Oxygen: Production
Why five companies sell most of the world's industrial gas
Why five companies sell most of the world's industrial gas What this tab covers Who makes it and how much: world capacity and output, utilisation, the top producing countries and companies globally and in India, concentration, new capacity coming, and each region's position.| Measure | Figure | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| World capacity | not published | no public world ASU capacity census found | |
| World output | about 400 Mt a year | Thunder Said Energy (May 2023) | |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Tonnage plants are sized to a host and run near full; merchant liquid capacity has spare room, as India showed in 2021 when liquid medical oxygen output rose 70% in nine months. | Government of India via Deccan Herald (2021) |
| Concentration | top-5 gas companies (Air Liquide, Linde, Air Products, Messer, Nippon Sanso) hold about 80-84% of the industrial gases market | Captive steel-plant ASUs are excluded from that market figure. In India, Linde (26%) and INOX Air Products (25%) hold half the commercial market (2024). | MarketsandMarkets (2024); gasworld India report (2025) |
| New capacity | new ASUs follow steel and gasification projects | India's commercial gases market is forecast to grow 9.2-9.5% a year to about $2.83-2.87 billion by 2029 (gasworld). Talcher coal-gasification urea plant (1.27 Mt urea) needs large oxygen supply. Electrolyser hubs will add by-product oxygen. | gasworld (2025); Department of Fertilizers via ETV Bharat (2025) |
Top producing countries
- China: not published; proxy: 980 Mt raw steel and the world's largest coal-gasification base
- India: not published; proxy: 160 Mt raw steel; LMO capacity at least 9,690 t a day (2021)
- United States: not published; proxy: 82 Mt raw steel
- Japan: not published; proxy: 81 Mt raw steel
- Russia: not published; proxy: 65 Mt raw steel
Largest producers: global
| Company | Country | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linde about 855 production sites across segments, mostly cryogenic ASUs and CO2 plants | UK/US/Germany | 33.99 $ billion sales, all gases | 2025 | Linde 2025 Annual Report / Form 10-K |
| Air Liquide not retrieved; about EUR 27 billion revenue (2024, indicative) | France | not published | 2025 | company |
| Air Products not retrieved; about $12 billion sales (FY2024, indicative) | US | not published | FY2025 | company |
| Nippon Sanso Holdings not retrieved | Japan | not published | 2025 | MarketsandMarkets (top-5 list) |
| Messer not retrieved | Germany | not published | 2025 | MarketsandMarkets (top-5 list) |
Largest producers: India
| Company | Country | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linde India | India | 466 $ million commercial gas revenue (26% share) | 2024 | gasworld India country report (2025) |
| INOX Air Products JV of INOX Leasing and Finance and Air Products | India | 456 $ million commercial gas revenue (25% share) | 2024 | gasworld India country report (2025) |
| Air Liquide India | India | not published | 2024 | gasworld India country report (2025) |
| Air Water India | India | not published | 2024 | gasworld India country report (2025) |
India's commercial industrial gases market was about $1.82 billion in 2024, up from $1.3 billion in 2014, with oxygen about 31% of it (gasworld). Large steel mills also run captive ASUs. India is self-sufficient in oxygen; in 2021 it imported only 1,385 t of liquid medical oxygen.
Position by region
| Region | Position |
|---|---|
| US | Self-sufficient; oxygen is made locally by Linde, Air Products and Air Liquide (Airgas). |
| EU | Self-sufficient; high power prices raise cost; steel decarbonisation via DRI changes oxygen demand patterns. |
| India | Self-sufficient but medical supply depends on steel-plant liquid output, as 2021 showed; commercial market $1.82 billion (2024). |
| China | Largest producer, driven by steel and coal-to-chemicals; local ASU makers such as Hangzhou Oxygen supply plants. |
| Japan | Self-sufficient; Nippon Sanso is the main supplier. |
| Middle East | Large ASUs serve gas-to-liquids, DRI steel, refinery gasification and petrochemicals. |