The financial results of the gas majors for the fourth and final quarter brought a busy 2007 year to an end in the Western Europe market, heralding the start of a promising 2008 ahead.
This already developed and established industrial gases market was valued at around $14bn in 2005, rose by 9% to reach $15.4bn in 2006 and showed further consolidation in 2007, with estimations from Spiritus Consultancy that suggest all the major gases groups experienced growth of steady percentages – in-keeping with year-on-year progression since the turn of the Millennium. Initial estimates predict that this trend could continue for several years yet, through to 2011 at least.
The two leading industrial gas players in the world today, Air Liquide and The Linde Group, both dominate the Western Europe market and continue to consolidate their resolute positions as expected. Indeed it is these two giants, as the markets squeeze and tighten between them, that provided perhaps the largest degree of activity in the Western Europe region last year.
Germany
A number of projects and plans for investment have been announced in Germany in the past 6-12 months, with the country enjoying a sustained period of interest at present. German gas revenues rose almost 10% in 2006 to reach close to $3.2bn and activity in the country is rife.
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