OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2011. Air Products & Chemicals Inc, a US industrial gas producer, plans to invest up to USD 880 million in China next year as it seeks to ride on the country's energy efficiency drive.

Stephen Jones, Air Products' China president, disclosed the plan in a press conference in Shanghai on Thursday after unveiling two large-scale gas-processing plants in China.

One plant is on-site in a LED manufacturer in Anhui province, supplying 2,000 metric tons of ammonia annually.

The other plant in Shaanxi province is one of the world's biggest on-site air separation facilities, capable of producing 12,000 tons of oxygen every day.

The two new plants are among the 50 plus group of production facilities the company has set up in China since it entered the market in 1987.

Jones said China's plan to boost energy efficiency and reduce green gas emission offer Air Products the potential to maintain fast growth rate in the world's second biggest economy.

In 2009, China pledged to reduce carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, after realizing that high-energy consumption will make its economic growth unsustainable.

This year, the country specified its plan, saying carbon emissions for each unit of GDP will be cut by 17 percent by 2015 from 2010 levels.