Air Liquide Strengthens Its Long-Term Partnership with ArcelorMittal in France and Benelux

Regulatory News:

Air Liquide (Paris:AI) and ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, have recently signed two long-term renewal contracts for the supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to ArcelorMittal’s production sites in the industrial port areas of Fos-sur-Mer and Dunkirk in France. Air Liquide also strengthens its position in Belgium in Ghent, by signing a new long-term supply contract with ArcelorMittal in order to support the growth of its industrial gas needs. In the frame of this new contract, Air Liquide will extend its pipeline network in Benelux.

Oxygen, nitrogen and argon are needed for many applications in the steel industry, ranging from the air enrichment of blast furnaces to oxygen-based steel production processes. Argon in particular is used in the production of high quality steel. The use of these gases makes it possible to improve the efficiency and the energy performance of steelworks, while reducing atmospheric emissions.

The ArcelorMittal facilities in Fos-sur-Mer, Dunkirk and Ghent manufacture high value added steel for the automotive, construction and packaging industries as well as other industrial applications. Air Liquide already supplies Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer facilities from its existing pipeline network in Benelux and France. Thanks to the new contract just signed, the plant in Ghent will be also connected to the Air Liquide Benelux pipeline network.

Air Liquide pipeline networks are connected to several air separation units (ASUs) ensuring reliability, performance and supply flexibility needed for ArcelorMittal. In total Air Liquide currently operates a pipeline network stretching 4,700 kilometers in Europe, the world’s most extensive network.

Guy Salzgeber, Senior Vice-President and member of the Air Liquide group’s Executive Committee supervising Europe Industries, said: "We are delighted to be reinforcing our relationship with ArcelorMittal, a strategic customer for the Group. Air Liquide demonstrates its ability to continue capitalizing on existing high performance assets -in particular its European pipeline- and to develop them. This new step illustrates Air Liquide's ability to support the shift in the European steel industry to high value added steel. Our longstanding collaboration with ArcelorMittal will also help us reinforce our presence in several major industrial basins in France and Belgium.”

The Large Industries business line of Air Liquide
offers gas and energy solutions that improve process efficiency and help achieve greater respect for the environment, mainly in the refining and natural gas, chemicals, metals and energy markets. In 2015, revenues were €5,201 million.

Air Liquide in the Benelux
Founded in Belgium in 1906 and in the Netherlands in 1913, Air Liquide currently operates 27 industrial sites throughout the Benelux. The Group currently employs more than 1,200 people in this region, all activities taken together, and it supplies more than 65,000 customers and patients.
The Air Liquide Benelux Large Industries business line operates a pipeline network stretching 2,225 kilometers, which supplies the industrial basins from Mons to Rotterdam.

Air Liquide France Industrie
Air Liquide France Industrie is a subsidiary of the Air Liquide group and brings together all of the Group’s industrial gases production and commercialization activities in France, with 3 complementary business lines: Large Industries, Industrial Merchant, and Electronics. The subsidiary has nearly 2,400 employees working at 80 sites located across France and helping more than 300,000 customers optimize their performance durably: from craftsmen to petrochemical companies and from testing laboratories to the automobile, aeronautics, steel and agrifood industries.

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The world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 68,000 employees and serves more than 3 million customers and patients*. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902.

Air Liquide’s ambition is to lead its industry, deliver long-term performance and contribute to sustainability. The company’s customer-centric transformation strategy aims at profitable growth over the long term. It relies on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and digitization, and delivers greater value to all its stakeholders.

Air Liquide’s revenues amounted to €16.4 billion in 2015, and its solutions that protect life and the environment represented more than 40% of sales. On 23 May 2016, Air Liquide completed its acquisition of Airgas, which had revenues amounting to $5.3 billion (around €4.8 billion) for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2016. Air Liquide is listed on the Paris Euronext stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40 and Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 indexes.

* Following the acquisition of Airgas on 23 May 2016

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