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TO slim down its debt, Dow Chemical has agreed to sell its calcium chloride business and its stake in a Netherlands-based oil refinery for $900m.

The calcium chloride business is being sold to Occidental Petroleum for more than $210m. The deal is expected to close in June this year and includes 130 staff and the calcium chloride assets associated with Dow’s Ludington operations in Michigan, US.

In the second transaction Dow is divesting its 45% stake in crude oil refinery Total Raffinaderij Nederland to Valero Energy for an estimated $725m. Dow says the 400 jobs at the Zeeland region outfit will remain safe in the short term and expects the deal to close in Q3 2009.

This deal, plus the divestment of Morton Salt, brings this year’s sales of “non-strategic assets” to $2.6b. The company is struggling with debt after it was sued into completing a $15b buyout of Rohm and Haas earlier this year. Dow says it is ahead of schedule in its bid to cement its post-merger financial position and has reduced its $9.2b bridge loan to $2.1b.

Company ceo and IChemE Fellow Andrew Liveris says: “These asset sales at valuations that result in significant de-leveraging represent another major step in the acceleration of Dow's divestiture and de-leveraging plans despite a challenging economic environment.”