(Archived) Praxair Opens New Cylinder Gases Plant in Tacoma, Washington

DANBURY, Conn., February 10, 2006 — Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) announced the opening of a new packaged gases production facility in Tacoma, Washington. Located in Tacoma's tide flats area and covering more than 44,000 square feet, the new Praxair plant is the largest cylinder fill plant in the state of Washington.

"We have successfully grown our business in the Pacific Northwest by delivering fully integrated products and services to our customers," said Wayne Yakich, president of Praxair Distribution, Inc. "This new fill plant helps enhance our customer service offering and positions us for even further growth in the region. The plant supplies our customers with industrial and medical gases, and a range of specialty gases. It features a gas analysis laboratory, a customer training center and a fully automated dry ice cutting operation. It cuts and bags dry ice produced at our Ferndale, Washington plant. The Tacoma plant will also house a Praxair retail store featuring our exclusive line of ProStar^® premium welding equipment and supplies, and other related products," Yakich said.

Praxair Distribution, Inc. and its subsidiaries and distributors deliver a wide array of industrial and specialty gases, equipment and supplies, technical expertise, and services to thousands of customers in the United States and Canada. With hundreds of locations throughout North America, Praxair provides differentiated product and service offerings that help customers achieve their objectives faster, better and at lower total cost.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2005 sales of $7.7 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.