(Archived) Praxair and Thyssenkrupp Sign Industrial Gas Supply Agreements

DANBURY, Conn., September 9, 2008 — Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) has signed an agreement with ThyssenKrupp to supply oxygen, nitrogen and argon to ThyssenKrupp’s new state-of-the-art carbon and stainless steel processing facilities which are currently under construction in Mobile, Alabama.

Praxair will build a 400-tons-per-day on-site air separation plant to supply ThyssenKrupp’s requirements for oxygen, nitrogen and argon. The new plant will also generate liquefied industrial gas for the growing merchant customer base in the region.

ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA, LLC, are constructing the $4.2 billion manufacturing and processing facilities in the U.S. as part of the company’s NAFTA strategy and an integral part of ThyssenKrupp’s overall global market strategy.

The new facilities will include a hot strip mill which will be used primarily to process slabs from ThyssenKrupp Steel’s new mill in Brazil. It will also feature cold rolling and hot-dip coating capacity for high-quality end products of flat carbon steel. The facility will have an annual capacity of 4.1 million metric tons of carbon steel end products. In addition, ThyssenKrupp Stainless is building a cold rolling mill and a steel melt shop with an annual capacity of up to one million metric tons of slabs in the first phase.

“ThyssenKrupp's  investment in new steel capacity in the southeastern United States is a critical step in the execution of their North American strategy and Praxair will be providing a cost-effective and energy-efficient plant to support the project,” said Ted Trumpp, vice president, East Region, for Praxair's North American Industrial Gases organization. “This new plant will also strengthen Praxair's already strong presence in the lower Alabama and Gulf States region,” Trumpp added.

With sales of 51.7 billion euros and 191,350 employees in over 70 countries, ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's major technology groups and occupies excellent positions on the international markets. The three main business areas of steel, capital goods and services, organized in five segments - Steel, Stainless, Technologies, Elevator and Services - mark out the Group's areas of competence. Visit www.thyssenkrupp.com for more information.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2007 sales of $9.4 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair is a recognized leader in the commercialization of new technologies that bring productivity and environmental benefits to a diverse group of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, electronics, energy, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.