BOC OPENS LARGEST COMMERCIAL HELIUM FACILITY IN CHINA

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BOC OPENS LARGEST COMMERCIAL HELIUM FACILITY IN CHINA
24 September 2006 - BOC Gases

BOC, one of the world's leading helium suppliers, has recently opened the largest commercial helium facility in China, a distribution center located in Suzhou.

BOC opened the distribution center, which will supply gaseous and liquid helium to customers throughout China, earlier this month. The facility is located in one of China’s main industrial parks, the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu province.

“The Suzhou investment is the latest in a series of commitments that BOC has made to strengthen our position in the rapidly growing Chinese market. BOC plans to continue to invest in our Chinese infrastructure in an effort to provide the highest level of service to Chinese helium customers,” said Phil Kornbluth, vice president, global helium, BOC.

China is one of BOC’s fastest growing helium markets. Demand has grown at the rate of 16 percent during the last five years, driven by scientific and medical applications, such as magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance, as well as high-tech applications including optical fiber and semiconductor manufacturing.

Peter Lu, general manager for Industrial and Special Products North Asia, the business making this investment, said: “BOC supplies significant quantities of helium to MRI manufacturers and most of the new NMR original equipment manufacturers in China. This new plant will help BOC improve its ability to provide efficient and safe service to customers and satisfy their growing demand for helium. It is a milestone for BOC’s China helium business and will also contribute to the development of Suzhou industry.” BOC employs 18 people at the facility, including drivers, plant workers and managers.

Liquid helium is shipped to Shanghai in specially insulated containers from helium sources in the U.S. From there, trucks haul the containers to Suzhou, where it is repackaged for delivery to end customers, most of whom are located in eastern China.

Besides the helium facility, BOC has a significant presence in SIP. BOC’s wholly owned subsidiary in Suzhou, BOC Gases (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., has invested millions of dollars to build a compressed gases plant, pipelines and new on-site supply schemes to meet increasing demand for industrial gases from customers in the park. Those customers manufacture a range of products, including chemicals, electronics, telecommunications and automotive equipment.

BOC was the first industrial gases company to invest in China in 1987. Since then, BOC has invested some $600 million through its three lines of business and 25 joint ventures and wholly-owned companies.

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About: BOC Gases
Through its PGS line of business, BOC supplies gas and related solutions to the chemicals, petroleum, glass, water services, electronic packaging, fibre optics, hydrogen energy, metals and food industries. BOC helps meet customer needs in a variety of ways, from the supply of a single gas or application through to designing, constructing and operating fully integrated gas and utilities schemes.

The BOC Group, which serves two million customers in more than 50 countries, is one of the largest and most global of the world's leading gases companies. It employs some 44,500 people worldwide and had annual sales of over £4.3 billion in 2003. Further information about The BOC Group may be obtained on the Internet at www.boc.com

The BOC Group has an international portfolio of companies grouped for management control and reporting into three lines of business: Process Gas Solutions, Industrial and Special Products, and BOC Edwards. It also has a specialist logistics business, Gist.

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