Industrial gases and engineering company Linde today announced a long-term agreement with ExxonMobil Asia Pacific to support the latest multi-billion dollar expansion of the company's integrated manufacturing complex in Singapore. Linde says this will be the single largest sale of gas contract in the history of the newly merged Linde and of its legacy companies.

Linde will invest $1.4 billion (Rs 9,710 crore) to expand its existing gasification complex at Jurong Island, Singapore integrating it with ExxonMobil's project to produce and supply additional hydrogen and synthesis gas.

The project will include building and operating four additional gasifiers, a 1,200 metric tonne per day air separation plant, as well as Linde's proprietary downstream gas processing units and sulphur recovery plants. Linde's gasification complex will produce and supply hydrogen and synthesis gas to ExxonMobil by upgrading the heavy residue feedstock from its new facilities.

The company (Linde) will also invest in a dedicated set of pipelines for the transfer of feedstocks and products between ExxonMobil and Linde facilities. Upon completion, the investment will also supply hydrogen, carbon monoxide and synthesis gas to other customers on Jurong Island and quadruple Linde's present capacity.

The new facility will be built by Linde's Engineering division, for which the construction is expected to start in the second half of 2019, with production anticipated to begin in 2023.

Sanjiv Lamba, executive vice-president, Linde Asia-Pacific, said, "Our Jurong Island facility has a long-standing history of processing refinery residue to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This expansion will allow us to process these additional heavy residues efficiently while delivering a highly competitive and reliable source of hydrogen and synthesis gas to ExxonMobil and other customers. We are proud to be a strategic partner for ExxonMobil's Singapore integrated manufacturing complex. We appreciate ExxonMobil's recognition of Linde's engineering, operational capabilities and commitment to safe and sustainable solutions to help realise the full potential of their world scale investments."

Gan Seow Kee, chairman and MD, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, said: "This agreement marks an important milestone in our partnership with Linde, and the integration will further enhance the operational capabilities of our respective facilities. We look forward to this being the start of a long and successful collaboration."

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