Praxair Expands Helium Supply in Central Europe

DANBURY, Conn. - Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) announced today that it has signed a long-term agreement for the purchase of liquid helium from Polskie Grnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA (PGNiG), a leader in the Polish natural gas market, as well as the only producer of helium in Central Europe.

PGNiG owns and operates a helium production facility located in Poland that extracts and refines helium from gas produced by its domestic natural gas fields. The company has been consistently producing helium from this plant for supply to the global market since the late 1970's.

"Through this agreement, Praxair gains a high-quality, proven source that enhances the efficiency and reliability of our helium supply into Europe," said Amer Akhras, general manager of Praxair's Global Helium business.

PGNiG Managing Director, Tomasz Jaskolski, said, "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Praxair, a leader in the global helium industry."

Praxair's leadership in the helium industry dates back to its development of the first plant for extracting helium from natural gas in 1917. Today, Praxair is a fully-integrated and global leader in the production and distribution of industrial grade helium, with numerous operations throughout the world. Helium is used in many applications, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fiber optics and semiconductor manufacturing, breathing atmospheres, balloons and leak detection.

About Praxair

Praxair, Inc., a Fortune 300 company with 2015 sales of $11 billion, is a leading industrial gas company in North and South America and one of the largest worldwide. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies are making our planet more productive by bringing efficiency and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, primary metals and many others. More information about Praxair, Inc. is available at www.praxair.com.

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