The joint venture is established under the name ‘Elixier’. Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation (ADNOC) will hold a 51% share, while Linde will have a 49% share in the jointly-owned company.
The first phase of the joint venture will be the construction of a $65 million air separation plant in the industrial zone of Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The new air separation plant will supply nitrogen from the end of 2009 to industrial customers in Ruwais and will also produce liquefied nitrogen and oxygen.
Aldo Belloni, an executive board member of Linde, said: This joint venture is of major strategic importance to us and is the logical expansion of the previous collaboration of our engineering division with ADNOC in the petrochemical industry. ADNOC has access to around 90% of Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas reserves, which are considered to be the fourth largest oil and gas reserves in the world.
