Linde pushes ahead with expansion of Eastern European gas business
Linde AG is the market leader for industrial gases in Central and Eastern Europe, and is currently investing EUR 100 million in three new air separation plants in the two regions. Each of these "on-site plants" will be operated by Linde gas at the sites of three major customers located in the Czech Republic and Romania. With a total output of around 2,000 tons of oxygen per day, the plants will supply major consumers with gaseous oxygen and nitrogen via a pipeline. Furthermore, the three plants will be able to produce a total of 700 tons of liquid oxygen and nitrogen per day, which, as liquefied or compressed gas, will be delivered to regional customers in cylinders. "In Eastern Europe, we are currently seeing the highest real growth rates for industrial gases", said Dr. Aldo Belloni, Member of the Executive Board and responsible for the Gas and Engineering division of Linde AG. "Having secured an excellent starting position in the EU accession markets early on, our growth rates will no doubt continue to accelerate with EU enlargement." During the first half of 2003, real gas sales in Eastern Europe rose 7.6% to EUR 244 million. Directly after the fall of the iron Curtain, the Group bought up a number of state-owned gas suppliers in Eastern Europe and has been continuously modernizing them over the last few years. The largest of the three air separation plants is being installed by Linde Engineering in Vresova in the west of the Czech Republic, and will pipe oxygen and nitrogen to Sokolovská Uhelná, a.s., as of 2005. Sokolovská Uhelná needs the oxygen to gasify and partially oxidize lignite. During this process, a synthetic gas (a mixture of hydrogen and CO) is produced that will be used as fuel for a steam and gas power station. The plant also has a liquefaction output of 300 tons of liquid gases per day, which will be sold on the Czech and south-east German markets.
Recently, the Czech Republic saw another Linde air separation plant go into operation at the chemicals company Kaucuk, a.s. in Kralupy, near Prague. Kaucuk, a.s. belongs to Unipetrol, the largest chemicals group in the Czech Republic, and manufactures plastics and synthetic rubber. Oxygen generated by the air separation plant will used to produce styrene, while nitrogen will be piped to the neighboring Ceska rafinérská, a.s., refinery. The Czech gas market will also be supplied with 200 tons of liquid oxygen and nitrogen per day.
The third air separation plant is currently being installed by Linde Engineering at Gaz Romania S.R.L. in the Romanian town of Ramnicu Valcea, approx. 180 km north-west of Bucharest. Based on a long-term supply agreement, the plant will pipe oxygen and nitrogen to the chemicals firm Oltchim SA, as of 2005. These gases are needed to produce VCM (vinyl chloride monomer), the parent compound of PVC. The Romanian gas market will also be supplied with 200 tons of liquified gases per day. This plant is the first modern air separation and gas liquefaction installation to be built since Romania became a parliamentary republic in 1990.
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