French industrial gas provider, Air Liquide Group is investing US$76 million in new production units in order to support its Middle East customers from the steel industry due to growing demand in the sector.
In Qatar, through its subsidiary GASAL, the Group has signed a new long term contract with Qatar Steel. Within this framework, a new oxygen production unit will be added to the existing two, bringing the total production capacity on this site to 650 tonnes of oxygen per day. This unit will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2012.
In Egypt, in the industrial zone of Sadat City, midway between Cairo and Alexandria, the Group has signed a new long term contract with the steel manufacturer EZZ for their supply of gaseous oxygen. A production unit with a capacity of 110 tonnes per day of gaseous oxygen will be commissioned at the end of 2011 and will enable the customer to increase its production of steel for long products.
Air Liquide has begun activities in Syria with its first unit in the country. An oxygen production unit with a capacity of 200 tonnes per day, dedicated to the steel producer Medsteel, has just been commissioned in the new industrial city of Adraa, near Damascus. This unit, which also produces liquid nitrogen and argon, will contribute to supply the industrial gases market throughout the Levant region.
Pierre Dufour, senior executive vice-president of the Air Liquide Group responsible for the Middle East region, declared: “Air Liquide is proud to meet the growing needs of its customers and accompany them in their geographical expansion. Today, the Group has a unique strategic position in the Middle East which generates significant growth. The emerging economies are one of the Group’s growth drivers.”
