Free Republic

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Party planners beware: a global but temporary helium shortage could deflate festive balloons this fall. The shortage affecting some suppliers results from a series of unconnected events, including delays in getting helium plants on line in Algeria and the Mideast, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said. The agency manages public lands, mostly in the West, and their mineral resources. It handles 42 percent of the U.S. production of crude helium, the colorless, odorless gas best known for inflating balloons that is derived from natural gas production. The government provides more than one third of the world's...

DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 2006--Praxair Chemax Semiconductor Materials Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX - News) and China Petrochemical Development Corp., announced that it will double the transfill production of silane in their Toufen, Taiwan facility. The increase in capacity is the result of the growing demand for silane in the production of TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display) technology as well as at 300mm semiconductor wafer fabs in the region. "This expansion will allow us to meet the new requirements of our key customers and provide Praxair Chemax with the capability to maintain our leading...