NEWS
RasGas supplier Air Products expands plant
New York, Aug 10 (LNG journal)
- Air Products of the US, a leading supplier to the liquefied natural gas industry, said it plans to increase manufacturing capacity for its LNG production equipment because of rising orders.
Air Products, which provides the process license and equipment for the baseload liquefaction process, said the expansion will take place at its Wilkes-Barre facility in Pennsylvania . The Wilkes-Barre plant produces cryogenic heat exchangers that are used in LNG plants in 10 countries.
Earlier this year, Air Products signed an agreement to supply its newest liquefaction process technology to Qatar 's Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (RasGas) for Train 6 at the RasGas II project.
"Since 2002, our LNG equipment manufacturing capacity will have increased by 100
percent," said Mark Modjeska, director of LNG at Air Products. "A market trend toward larger LNG process trains is evident as Air Products has already received six orders for the new AP-X(R) LNG process and equipment."
Air Products also provides dry inert gas generators for LNG carriers and shipboard membrane nitrogen systems. Offshore, it provides membrane nitrogen and natural gas dehydration membrane systems.
On July 27, the company reported a 17 percent rise in net income to $191 million for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30 compared with the same quarter a year ago.
The company's equipment division posted revenues of $117m in the quarter, up 15 percent over the previous year. The company said LNG activity drove both revenue and operating income increases and its backlog for the whole equipment division was at a record $624m.
Air Products shares on the New York Stock Exchange were up 63 US cents at Tuesday's close at $60.98.
