Air Liquide exiting Russia, transferring projects to management

MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax) - France's Air Liquide, a global leader in gases, technologies and services for industry, is exiting its Russian projects and ceasing operations in Russia, Air Liquide said in a statement.

"Taking a responsible and balanced approach, the group has signed a memorandum of understanding with local management to change its activities in Russia by transferring operations to them via a management buy-out," Air Liquide said, noting that Russian regulators must approve the decision.

At the same time, the French company announced the termination of consolidating the results of operations of the Russian assets in the group as of September 1.

Air Liquide employs more than 700 people in Russia, and the Russian market accounts for less than 1% of the group's total turnover. The company has worked closely with Russian metals companies, including Evraz ZSMK, Metalloinvest, and Severstal , with whom a joint venture was established in 2005 to launch commercial gas production. Air Liquide signed a memorandum of understanding with Rosatom state nuclear energy corporation on exploring the possibility of constructing a hydrogen-production complex at Sakhalin with capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes per year.