BOC Retains Ten-Year Supply Deal with Corus in South Wales.

GUILDFORD, England -- BOC has today announced the renewal of its multi-million pound contract to supply Corus' Trostre plant, near Llanelli in South Wales.

The 10-year deal with Corus will see BOC invest to upgrade its existing facilities at Trostre to supply nitrogen and hydrogen to the Corus Packaging Plus plant. The nitrogen and hydrogen supplied by BOC will be used for the heat treatment of steel strip produced in South Wales.

News of this investment comes less than three months after BOC announced a 15-year deal with Corus to increase its supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to the Corus Strip Products plant at Port Talbot following a global rise in steel demand.

Corus Packaging Plus is part of the Corus Group, one of the largest producers of steel in the world.

Nigel Hunton, BOC's managing director, Process Gas Solutions (PGS) Europe, said: "BOC is delighted that its partnership with Corus in South Wales has resulted in another major contract success and is a further demonstration of our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of Corus.

"As well as being the second such investment in South Wales this year, this success is the latest in a line of major investment announcements by BOC supporting its customers in the global metals industry in the past 12 months.

"These successes clearly show that BOC has the reach to not only work at the global level but is also able to focus on the attention to detail needed to meet customers needs at the local level."

Trostre's works manager, Stuart Wilkie, said: " The extension of this contract with BOC concludes a negotiation and design phase which has been professionally undertaken by teams from both companies in a spirit of co-operation and partnership which has typified our relationship over the years."

Through its PGS line of business, BOC supplies gas and related solutions to the chemicals, petroleum, glass, water services, electronic packaging, fibre optics, hydrogen energy, metals and food industries. BOC helps meet customer needs in a variety of ways, from the supply of a single gas or application through to designing, constructing and operating fully integrated gas and utilities schemes.

The BOC Group, which serves two million customers in more than 50 countries, is one of the largest and most global of the world's leading gases companies. It employs some 44,500 people worldwide and had annual sales of over GBP 4.3 billion in 2003. Further information about The BOC Group may be obtained on the Internet at www.boc.com

Corus is a leading international metal company, which combines world-renowned expertise with local service. The headquarters are in London, with four divisions and operations worldwide. It is a customer focused, innovative solutions-driven company, which manufactures, processes and distributes metal products as well as providing design, technology and consultancy services.

Notes to Editors:

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