Further investments in Singapore

Growth in manufacturing is expected to continue in Singapore, notably related to the petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries. Air Liquide is making further investments in this key South-East Asian market, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Singapore Oxygen Air Liquide Pte Lte (SOXAL).

SOXAL has just completed its acquisition of all the shares of Island Pipeline Gases Pte Ltd (IPG), a joint venture with Air Products Singapore. In doing so, IPG becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of SOXAL. The move enables Soxal to accelerate plans to make additional investments of around €20 million in its extensive oxygen and nitrogen pipeline networks on Singapore’s Jurong Island and in its Industrial Park.

SOXAL’s current total production capacities of 10,000 tonnes per day of air gases makes it the leader in industrial gases in Singapore. The IPG acquisition is the latest in a series of investments into the infrastructure of Jurong Island and Jurong Industrial Park, which together with its pipeline network investments have taken its industrial gas supply capability a major step forward. These investments, which include the construction of a world-class hydrogen production unit announced in January 2008, reflects the strong growth expected from Jurong Island and Jurong Industrial Park and demonstrates SOXAL’s commitment to support its customers in this sector.

Jean-Pierre Duprieu, Senior Vice-President in charge of Asia-Pacific and member of the Air Liquide’s Executive Committee, said: “With this share acquisition, we have cleared the way for the reinforcement of our long-term investment plans in Singapore. In the current economic context, Air Liquide is focused as part of its ALMA program on efficiency projects, as well as pursuing its investments in accordance with the Group’s long-term vision, so as to capture tomorrow’s growth in emerging economies.”