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Air Liquide to Build Two Air Separation Units for Indian Steel Company

11/29/2010 - Air Liquide has signed a long-term agreement with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) to supply oxygen and nitrogen to meet RINL’s expansion from 3 to 6.3 million tonnes per year of steel. Located in Vizag, this new facility of industrial gases will address the south India market.

Air Liquide has signed a long-term agreement with the second-largest government-owned steel company in India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), to supply oxygen and nitrogen to meet RINL’s expansion from 3 to 6.3 millions tonnes per year of steel. Located in Vizag, north of Andhra Pradesh, this new facility of industrial gases will address the south India market.
 
Air Liquide will invest, build, and operate two Air Separation Units (ASUs) with a total installed oxygen capacity over 1,800 tonnes per day, scheduled to start up by the end of 2012. Air Liquide also will produce large quantities of liquid gases (oxygen, nitrogen, and argon) to meet the needs of the industrial and medical customers in the region.
 
The Air Liquide investment amounts to around €70 million for the production facilities and the supply chain together. The ASUs will be designed and built by Air Liquide Engineering teams in Hyderabad, India.
 
Jean-Marc de Royere, Senior Vice-President Asia-Pacific and a member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, said: “This new project is an important milestone for the development of Air Liquide in India. It provides a solid reference in the booming steel industry and opens the southern market to our liquid gases. India is an important country for Air Liquide, and developing economies are one of the growth drivers for the Group.”
 
Air Liquide is the world leader in gases for industry, health, and the environment, and is present in more than 75 countries with 42,300 employees. Oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and rare gases have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902. In 2009, the Group’s revenues amounted to €12 billion, of which almost 80% were generated outside France.
 
Having started its Indian business in 1992, Air Liquide now operates with more than 1,100 employees in India: in industrial gases (mainly for the steel, automobile, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and glass markets), Engineering & Construction, and Healthcare. The main facilities are in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vadodara, Panipat, Roorkee, Dharuhera, and soon in Vizag.