LNG

French industrial gases company Air Liquide, plans to build an air separation unit (ASU) in the Lingang Economic District of Tianjin Port, the growing centre of Chinese LNG imports for use in the domestic market and by industry.

Air Liquide, whose latest China plans were announced in a statement to the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, has been supplying industrial gases to the Chinese Tianjin industrial basin for many years and operates seven Chinese production facilities.

“With an oxygen production capacity of more than 2,000 tons per day, this ASU will notably allow Air Liquide to support the growth of the chemical and steel industries in the Tianjin basin, secured by a new long-term supply agreement with a major customer,” said the company.

Air Liquide will build, own and operate this new ASU, which has been designed leveraging the group’s latest state-of-the-art technology, for the low-carbon and energy-efficient production of oxygen, nitrogen and argon.

One Air Liquide’s main competitors in China is Air Products, the US company based in Pennsylvania which combines its industrial gas business with its LNG equipment making.

Air Products is the world’s leader in LNG technology and equipment, but is also investing in industrial gas provision in various Chinese provinces.

Air Liquide’s main LNG sector sales are linked to its Turbo-Brayton cryogenic equipment, with around 50 units sold over the last two years.

The technology, developed by Air Liquide and based on the Turbo-Brayton principle, reliquefies LNG boil-off gas on vessels transporting the product, thereby significantly reducing greenhouse-gas emissions during transportation.

Air Liquide now operates nearly 100 industrial gas facilities in China and employs close to 5,000 people with a strong presence in the key coastal industrial areas.

The latest Air Liquide investment in Tianjin, which borders Hebei Province and the Beijing municipality, will incorporate a dedicated capacity to support small-and-medium sized customers of liquid and packaged gases. It is planned to be operational in 2022.

The latest investment will amount to around €60 million ($70M), added the company.

The Chinese operator Beijng Gas is developing more LNG import capacity in Tianjin, which already has two import facilities.

The company’s Nangang import project at Tianjin is currently scheduled to come on line in 2022 with 10 tanks and up to 2 million tonnes of storage.

The Beijing Gas terminal will have an initial 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG capacity and adds to the supply available from Sinopec’s Tianjin North import terminal and the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) capacity deployed in recent years by China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Air Liquide’s China subsidiary currently operates seven ASUs in Tianjin in the industrial gases sector, as well as a network of multi-sourced pipelines that deliver oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to adjacent customers.

“One of the most important industrial cities in the country and the largest port in Northern China, Tianjin is a key basin for Air Liquide in China,” explained François Abrial, a member of Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising the Asia-Pacific region.

“This new investment in the 8th ASU clearly demonstrates our commitment to the long-term partnership we have built with our customers there,” added Abrial.

Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, a unit of France's industrial gases company, has signed a new contract with LNG importer, the POSCO Group and the leading steel producer in South Korea, to design and build an Air Separation Unit (ASU) at Pohang.

Air Products, the US LNG equipment-maker and industrial gas company, has signed an accord on industrial gases project development with the Saudi organization established in the Kingdom for the advancement of the Jubail and Yanbu economic areas.

Air Products of the US, the maker of LNG processing equipment and a leading industrial gases provider and plant developer, has completed the buyback of two air separation units from China’s Shanxi Jinmei Huayu Coal Chemical Co.