In this last edition of the Oxygen business series, let’s have a look at the largest manufacturer of oxygen in the world. Also, we will see how the corporate biggies have been contributing to combat the oxygen crisis in our nation.In the last article, we saw how oxygen has a variety of uses through many industries and does not face the threat of closure after the pandemic. Today, let’s look upon the largest oxygen manufacturer in the world along with how are our in-house producers are faring and helping deal with the oxygen crisis.
Largest Oxygen Manufacturer in the World
Air Liquide seems to be the largest oxygen manufacturer in the world after establishing its 17th Air Separation Unit (ASU) for Sasol which is an international chemicals and energy company. Incepted in 1902, Air Liquide’s 17th ASU brought its oxygen-producing capacity to a total of over 45,000 tons per day.Founded by Paul Delorme in 1902 with 24 subscribers and a capital of 100,000 Francs, Air Liquide began its operation. In the year 1906, it expanded to the countries of Belgium, Italy, Canada, Japan, and Hong Kong. It was in 1913 that Air Liquide was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
From there on, it was only up and onwards for the French multinational. Expanding further globally in more countries to acquiring companies, Air Liquide has manifested growth along the way. Dabbling into space research and entering into the healthcare and electronic sector, it has added a lot of feathers to its cap.Their collaboration with Sasol and investing around €200 million for the construction of the largest oxygen manufacturing plant in the world was one of a kind and made it the world’s largest oxygen producer.
Indian Oxygen PlayersWe saw in the last article that many industries use oxygen for various purposes, be it for production or as an alternative. India produces about 7,000 tons of oxygen per day. During the pre-covid times, 20% of the total was sold to the medical sector. But during the first wave, this increased to 70% and now almost the entire production is catering to the increased oxygen demands.
There are corporate giants in India who have large oxygen plants which are employed to meet the demand for their various productions. These big players have helped to a great extent to overcome the oxygen crisis that we are facing. Let’s see how!- Tata Group
- Reliance Industries
- JSW Steel
JSW Steel is planning to ramp up production and supply 600 tons of oxygen per day from its three plants spread across Karnataka (Ballari), Maharashtra (Dolvi), and Tamil Nadu (Salem).
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.
The steel plant’s Visakhapatnam facility has supplied around 8842 tons of oxygen last year and around 400 tons until April 2021. It has helped in building special ramps for the oxygen containers to load and unload in the Oxygen Express train by Indian Railways. 15 out of 32 containers of 15 tons capacity each are expected to be loaded from this plant on the special train.
- Jindal Steel
Jindal Steel and Power has committed to providing 500 metric tons of oxygen and is actively supplying it to hospitals in need.
- INOX Air Products
The industrial and medical gases manufacturer joined hands with the Indian Railways to help transport medical oxygen to the secluded regions in less time on the Oxygen Express trials of Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) trains.Many of the companies above have stopped the production for their business partially or completely at certain plants. They have dedicated the entire production to produce medical-grade oxygen and supply them to the states and hospitals and help the people in their dire need.
Apart from these steel and gas manufacturers, many other MNCs from India and the world over have extended their support to deal with the situation. This list includes Google, Microsoft, ITC, and Amazon to name a few.We saw that how Oxygen business can be a profit-generating business plan previously. But these huge conglomerates showed us that it can also turn into a life-saving venture when times like these demand it. With foresight and expert advice, you could not only grow but aid and thrive at the business.So if you would like to hop on the Oxygen business train and set-up operations, feel free to contact us for business plan consulting and project finance modeling. We at Mantraa offer a combination of technical and practical expertise for end-to-end and custom-based services in Corporate Finance, CFO services, and Risk Advisory Services.With thorough technical knowledge and experience of the ins and outs of the financial world, we are ready to assist you at every step of your journey. Are you ready to take the first step?
