By Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BASF is to reduce annual costs by 500 million euros ($485 million) in Europe up to 2024, including job cuts, as the German chemicals group took a 740 million euro writedown linked to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The company said in an unscheduled statement on Wednesday it would also look into restructuring its chemical sites further in the region over the longer term after being hit by high energy prices. BASF cited significantly weaker earnings in Europe due to “deteriorating framework conditions” and a loss in Germany in the third quar…