Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) today announced two big helium market wins. Air Products will supply to RasGas Company Ltd (RasGas), the helium licensor package equipment for the new Helium 3 plant to be located at the Barzan facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. Additionally, Air Products won the award for the long-term helium supply from the Helium 3 plant, which is expected to produce up to 0.4 billion std. ft3/yr of liquid helium, and in achieving this, the company will again be the world’s largest commercial supplier of helium when the plant begins production in 2018.
Air Products has an existing relationship with RasGas in other business and markets, and a successful history of accomplishments in Qatar. Air Products previously supplied the natural gas liquefaction technology, key liquefaction equipment, and helium extraction boxes for all 14 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains for RasGas and Qatargas, as well as the large air separation plant for Oryx GTL, which are all located in Ras Laffan.
The helium supply contract win is another step in a series of important steps taken recently by Air Products to obtain reliable helium supply for customers. Air Products has won substantial amounts of helium from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) strategic reserve at recent BLM auctions. Additionally, in August Air Products began selling helium captured via its proprietary and innovative technology at the world’s only helium production plant that strips helium from a naturally occurring stream of carbon dioxide located in Colorado.