Praxair India Awarded Second Major On-Site Contract by Tata Steel

May 24, 2006

BANGALORE, India, May 24, 2006 — Praxair India today announced the award of a major contract from Tata Steel to build and operate two on-site industrial gas plants at the site of their steel plant at Jamshedpur, in the state of Jharkhand. This is the second major contract awarded by Tata Steel to Praxair for the supply of gases to this steel plant.

Praxair India will build, own and operate two state-of-the-art cryogenic air separation plants, each with a capacity of 700 metric tons per day [MTPD] to meet Tata Steel's gas requirements. In addition to meeting Tata Steel's oxygen, nitrogen and argon requirements, these plants may also meet the growing demand for liquid gases from customers in eastern and northern India. These plants will be commissioned by early 2008 well in time for the ongoing 1.8 million-ton expansion of this plant. In October 2005, Praxair commissioned an 875 MTPD plant at Jamshedpur to supply Tata Steel's needs.

"We have confidence that Praxair will once again meet the quality and reliability expectations of Tata Steel, in the supply of cryogenic gases required to meet the capacity expansions called for in our corporate plan," said, Dr.Tridibesh Mukherjee, deputy managing director, Steel, of Tata Steel Ltd.

"We are extremely pleased to have been chosen again by Tata for the long term supply of gases to their Jamshedpur complex," said Murray Covello, president, Praxair Asia. "This success, coupled with our wins at other locations in India, demonstrates our ability to execute world-scale projects here, and our commitment to growth in India."

"This contract with Tata Steel recognizes Praxair's overall capabilities and high level of service and safety standards," said Mr. John Panikar, managing director for Praxair India.

Praxair India was recently awarded a contract by Steel Authority of India [SAIL] to build and operate an on-site industrial gas plant at the site of SAIL's steel plant in Durgapur, north of Kolkata. With a capacity of 700 MTPD, this gas plant will meet the SAIL Durgapur Steel Plant's gaseous oxygen requirements. Praxair has also executed a number of other major Indian projects, among them two 2,500 MTPD cryogenic oxygen plants for Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Ltd. and additional plants for Kalyani Steels, Saint Gobain Glass India and Haldia Petrochemicals. It has also installed innovative non-cryogenic on-site plants for customers such as Usha Martin, Timken, Epcos Ferrites and Sundaram Fasteners.

Tata Steel is Asia's first and India's largest integrated private sector steel company and one of the best performing steel companies in the world. It had sales of U.S.$3.5 billion last financial year and operating profit of U.S.$1.3 billion. It plans to increase its production from 5 million tons to 15 million tons, by 2010.

About Praxair

Praxair India, headquartered at Bangalore, is the largest industrial gas producer in India, with more than 35 operating locations and 2005 consolidated sales of $120 million. More information on Praxair India is available at www.praxair.com/india.

Praxair India's parent company, Praxair, Inc., is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2005 sales of $7.7 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technology bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, electronics, energy, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.