Exhibit 31.1

                               CERTIFICATION

Statement  Pursuant  to Section  302 of the  Sarbanes-Oxley  Act of 2002 by
Chief  Executive  Officer  Regarding  Facts and  Circumstances  Relating to
Exchange Act Filings.

I, James J. O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer of Ashland Inc., certify that:

1.       I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-Q of  Ashland
         Inc.;

2.       Based on my knowledge,  this quarterly report does not contain any
         untrue  statement  of a material  fact or omit to state a material
         fact  necessary  to make  the  statements  made,  in  light of the
         circumstances   under  which  such   statements   were  made,  not
         misleading  with respect to the period  covered by this  quarterly
         report;

3.       Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other
         financial  information  included in this quarterly report,  fairly
         present in all material respects the financial condition,  results
         of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the
         periods presented in this quarterly report;

4.       The registrant's  other certifying  officers and I are responsible
         for   establishing   and  maintaining   disclosure   controls  and
         procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15(e))
         for the registrant and have:

a)       Designed such disclosure  controls and procedures,  or caused such
         disclosure  controls  and  procedures  to be  designed  under  our
         supervision,  to ensure that material  information relating to the
         registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
         to us by others  within those  entities,  particularly  during the
         period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

b)       Evaluated  the   effectiveness  of  the  registrant's   disclosure
         controls  and   procedures   and  presented  in  this  report  our
         conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
         procedures,  as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly
         report based on such evaluation; and

c)       Disclosed in this quarterly  report any change in the registrant's
         internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
         registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the  registrant's  fourth
         fiscal  quarter  in  the  case  of  an  annual  report)  that  has
         materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
         the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.       The registrant's  other certifying  officers and I have disclosed,
         based on our most  recent  evaluation  of  internal  control  over
         financial  reporting,  to the registrant's  auditors and the audit
         committee  of   registrant's   board  of  directors   (or  persons
         performing the equivalent functions):

a)       All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
         or operation of internal  control over financial  reporting  which
         are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability
         to record,  process,  summarize and report financial  information;
         and

b)       Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves  management or
         other  employees who have a significant  role in the  registrant's
         internal control over financial reporting.

 Date: May  11, 2004

                                /s/ James J. O'Brien
                                -------------------------------------
                                Chief Executive Officer