(BASF) -- Following a strong start to the year, BASF had a good and very solid second quarter. Sales improved by 13.9% to EUR 18.5 billion and income from operations (EBIT) before special items by 1.4% to EUR 2.2 billion despite the suspension of oil production in Libya. In the second quarter of 2010, the Libyan activities contributed an EBIT before special items of EUR 280 million. On a comparable basis, EBIT before special items thus increased by 16%.
Compared with the extraordinary growth in the first quarter, the growth rates have normalized in the second quarter as expected. In addition, for the first time since the first quarter of 2010 currency effects were negative (minus 6%) due to the weak U.S. dollar. The inclusion of the Cognis businesses made a positive contribution to sales. In the chemicals business, sales volumes increased 5%. Due to the suspension of oil production in Libya, the contribution to earnings before taxes from Oil & Gas was lower compared with the same quarter of the previous year.