Air Liquide to develop second industrial gas plant in Tatarstan
KYIV. Oct 9 (Interfax) - France's Air Liquide plans to develop industrial gas production at the Himgrad Technopolis (Kazan), the Technopolis said in a statement.
The necessary agreement was signed on Tuesday in Kazan by representatives from Air Liquide and Himgrad.
A station will be developed for production of oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide for supply to the residents of Himgrad. The station will also be able to fill balloons with technical gases and mixes. "The project at Himgrad will help fully meet the needs of industrial enterprises at the Technopolis for modern gases and gas mixes," the statement said.
The production buildings were built by the Technopolis according to Air Liquide's specification.
Total production and investment is not specified in the document. The production operations should be commissioned by 2013.
In turn, the presidential press service of Tatarstan said that the French company plans to expand production operations in the republic in future. For instance, the company plans to receive a medical license for its plant at the Elabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which will allow for the production of oxygen for medical institutions.
Tatarstan's authorities also proposed that Air Liquide consider deliveries of technical gas to the republic's major petrochemical enterprises.
It was earlier reported that Air Liquide has plant at the Elabuga SEZ for the production of liquid oxygen and nitrogen, which is supplied to the joint enterprise of LLC Tatneft-Alabuga (100% subsidiary of Tatneft) and P-D Glasseiden GmbH Oschatz (part of Preiss-Daimler Group) - P.D Tatneft-Alabuga-Steklovolkno. Investment in the project came to 35 million euro. The plant's capacity comes to 200 tonnes of liquid oxygen and nitrogen a day.
Air Liquide Group produces gas for industry, medicine and environmental production. Total sales came to 14.5 billion euro last year (80% of which was received outside of France).
The Himgrad Technopolis is an industrial complex in Kazan with small and medium-sized enterprises in chemicals and polymer production. The facility coves 181 hectares.