American company targeted in the France terror attack, ramps up security worldwide
- The Pennsylvania-headquartered company has increased security at its facilities around the world in the wake of the attack
- It is unclear whether the firm was targeted because it is American
- All employees have been accounted for and the facility has been evacuated
- Air Products sells gases and chemicals for industrial use and has operations across the US, Canada, Europe and Asia
- The firm is involved in high profile gas projects in Saudi Arabia and Qatar
The factory in south east France at the center of today's shocking attack by suspected Islamist terrorists is owned by the American firm Air Products.
It is unclear at present as to whether the facility, in the town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in the commune of L'Isle-d'Abeau, was attacked because it is American-owned, nor whether there were any American employees on site at the time.
The company has responded by dramatically increasing security at all of its many facilities around the world.
Headquartered in the Lehigh Valley, near Allentown, Pennsylvania, on a sprawling 600 acre campus, the main business of Air Products is selling gases and chemicals for industrial use.
The corporate headquarters of Air Products is a sprawling 600 acre campus near Allentown, Pennsylvania
Air Products has facilities across the US including these in Baytown, Texas, and Convent, Louisiana
Founded in 1940, the company mainly sells oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
Air Products employs more than 20,000 people in 50 countries, and in 2014 global sales totaled $10.4 billion.
The company's chairman, president and CEO is Iranian-born Seifi Ghasemi who has been a US citizen since 1982.
In addition to the Pennsylvania headquarters, in the US the firm has facilities in Georgia, California, Texas, and Louisiana, among other states.
Air Products has a long history of working with NASA, supplying the agency with liquid hydrogen for space shuttle and rocket launches.
The company has also worked on LNG projects in Qatar, under US government guarantees from the Export-Import Bank. In April Air Products was awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco to build, own and operate the world's largest industrial gas complex in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Seifi Ghasemi became chairman, president and CEO of Air Products on July 1, 2014
Police surveillance at the entrance of the Dutch subsidiary of Air Products in Halfweg, The Netherlands, after the attack on an Air Products factory in the French town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier
The Saint-Quentin-Fallavier factory was opened in 1982 according to a local business directory and specializes in medical and industrial gas bottling and marketing.
Air Products has said that all of its employees are accounted for after the attack. The company has not yet confirmed whether its staff were among the two people reported injured and one dead.
A statement said that all employees have been evacuated from the site, which is secure.
‘Our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.’
A car rammed the gate and plowed into gas canisters setting off an explosion on Friday morning. A decapitated body and flags with Arabic writing were found at the scene.
The French government has ordered heightened security measures at 'sensitive sites' near the gas factory.
The Air Products facility at Saint-Quentin-Fallavier near Lyon, France. The site of today's terrorist attack
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