Air Products And Sinopec Form Joint Venture To Serve Nanjing Market In China

Lehigh Valley, PA — Air Products, a globally diversified gases and chemicals company, has announced plans to form a joint venture (JV) company with Nanjing Chemical Industries Co Ltd (Nanjing Chemical), a subsidiary of Sinopec Assets Management Corporation, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), to produce hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and liquid products. A Letter of Intent to form the JV was recently signed in Beijing by the two companies.

Air Products and Nanjing Chemical will jointly build and operate an air separation unit and a hydrogen facility in Nanjing. Slated to come on-stream in 2009, this facility will have the capacity to produce more than 100 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of hydrogen for Nanjing Chemical and other customers in the Nanjing area to meet their industrial gas needs.

"We sincerely thank Sinopec and Nanjing Chemical for the faith that they have shown in Air Products by selecting us to be their partner. The signing of this joint venture Letter of Intent marks a great moment as our two companies come together. I very much look forward to the successful partnership that the venture will bring," said John McGlade, president and chief operating officer of Air Products.

"This project reflects the new trend of global economy. It meets Sinopec's requirement of resource optimization and benefits the local economy," said Leng Tai Min, director and vice president of Sinopec Assets Management Corporation.

"The signing of this Letter of Intent signifies that both companies have reached a new milestone in establishing a strategic partnership in the industrial gas business," said Yuan Jian Ning, president of Nanjing Chemical.

Air Products supplied an air separation plant to Nanjing Chemical in 1997 when the two companies collaborated to produce liquid products for the Nanjing market. The new facility will produce hydrogen for downstream applications to make ammonia, caprolactam, aniline and other chemical products. Air Products is a global leader in hydrogen production and distribution and is well recognized in the industry for the reliable and safe production of hydrogen.

Air Products was one of the first international industrial gas companies to enter China with a joint venture in 1987. It has since established a solid infrastructure in Northern, Southern and Eastern China.

SOURCE: Air Products