The Linde Group to supply reliquefaction equipment for new fleet of LNG carriers

Market Wire, May, 2007

Wiesbaden/Munich, 10 May 2007 - Cryostar, a subsidiary of The Linde Group and a leading supplier of equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, has won an order from Samsung Heavy Industries totalling over US$50 million. As part of this order, Cryostar will supply on-board boil-off gas reliquefaction plants for five LNG tankers to be built by 2008. The modern membrane carriers with a cargo capacity of 265,000 cubic meters will be the largest ever built and are destined for LNG trade between Qatar and the U.S.A.

"With this contract, The Linde Group has further extended its product offering along the thriving LNG value chain", said Dr. Aldo Belloni, member of the executive board of Linde AG. "We are now active in this field as suppliers of base-load liquefaction technology, of on-board equipment to LNG shipyards, and of specialised re-evaporation systems at the receiving terminal. Being a gas company, we also distribute LNG in selected merchant market regions."

The larger the vessel, the more important the boil-off gas management for the LNG. It is stored on board at -163° C, in order to ensure that the maximum cargo is delivered. Cryostar, who provide both the reliquefaction process design and the majority of cryogenic equipment, developed the plant's unique low power consumption technology. The on-board reliquefaction of boil-off gas on LNG tankers with slow speed diesel propulsion makes these carriers highly economic for long distance travel. Thanks to its low CO2 emission, this propulsion concept is also more environmentally friendly than conventional steam propulsion, where the boil-off gas is burned together with heavy fuel oil in boilers.

Said Dr. Belloni: "LNG has become a major ingredient of the energy economy and its growth potential is undisputed. We are very well positioned in order to capture a significant market share."

The Linde Group is a world-leading industrial gases, medical gases and engineering company with more than 51,000 employees working in around 70 countries worldwide. Following the acquisition of The BOC Group plc, the company has gases and engineering sales of around 12 billion euro per annum. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. For more information, please see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com .

French-based Cryostar SAS is a subsidiary of The Linde Group. The company is specialised in cryogenic equipment, including pumps, turbines, compressors, heat exchangers and automatic filling stations. Two out of three LNG carriers have Cryostar equipment aboard.

For further information:

Press
Stefan Metz
Telephone:  49.89.35757-1322

Investor Relations
Thomas Eisenlohr
Telephone:  49.89.35757-1330

Copyright © Hugin ASA 2007. All rights reserved.