Air Products and PetroChina Joint Venture to Build Air Separation Unit in China
An Air Products joint venture company based in Sichuan, China has signed an agreement to build an air separation unit (ASU) for PetroChina Company Limited, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. The ASU will supply oxygen and nitrogen to PetroChina’s main refinery and ethylene complex in Sichuan, as well as produce liquid products for Air Products’ merchant gases customers in the Chengdu area. The ASU is to be on-stream in late 2011.
“This is a key project for Air Products which allows us to continue to grow both our on-site and merchant supply presence in China. We appreciate the fact that PetroChina has put its trust in Air Products to form a partnership and supply the industrial gases to its new Sichuan refinery and ethylene complex,” said Phil Sproger, vice president–Business Development for Asia at Air Products.
Chengdu Air and Gas Products Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Air Products’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Prodair Corporation, and PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical Co., Ltd., a joint venture between PetroChina Company Limited and Chengdu government, will build the ASU in Sichuan province, China. The new ASU will be designed and built primarily by Air Products’ engineering center in Shanghai and its cryogenic manufacturing center in Caojing, near Shanghai.
Sproger noted that this ASU fits well with Air Products’ strategic plan, and allows its merchant industrial gas business to continue expanding in China. This announcement follows closely Air Products’ Sept. 10 announcement about plans to purchase and operate four existing air separation units and build a new ASU, to be on-stream in March 2011, to supply industrial gases to Xingtai Iron and Steel Corporation, Ltd., one of China’s largest specialty steel manufacturers located in Hebei province, China.
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