Universal Cryo Gas (UCG) is the onsite gas supply affiliate of Universal Industrial Gases.  UCG supplies nitrogen and/or oxygen and argon to its customers as gases and liquids from UCG-owned and operated on-site production plants. 

UCG offers attractively-priced onsite-produced product pricing, user-friendly contract terms, and reliable and attentive customer service.

UCG onsite gas supply arrangements serve the needs of a wide range of industrial gas user industries, including steelmaking, metals manufacturing and fabrication, refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, food and beverage processing, rubber, plastics, glass, energy exploration and production, and pulp and paper. 

UCG wants to earn your business by offering industrial gas supply arrangements that cost-effectively and reliably meet your current needs and accommodate anticipated changes in demand. UCG wants to keep your business through operating excellence and responsive, customer-friendly service. 

We will work with your technical and operations personnel to review your product supply needs.  We will work with your procurement personnel to understand any contract constraints that could impact the project scope or timing.

UCG and UIG will propose a supply system and commercial arrangements that meet your requirements in a reliable and cost-effective manner and provide a smooth transition from your current supplier's system.

Industrial gas users who are buying gas and/or liquid from other industrial gas companies are often surprised at the difficulties they encounter when they consider changing to a new supplier. 

Customers who do their homework, and start investigating options early, are most likely to start their next supply period with the most satisfactory supply arrangements.   

UCG recommends starting your investigation and assessment at least two years before your supply period ends to provide ample time for all the steps necessary for you to solicit and evaluate proposals, finalize contract terms and conditions, and give a new supplier time to install the components of your new supply system prior to the end of your current supply period.  

See our detailed list of tips for companies contemplating a change of supplier on a separate page. 

UCG supplies reliable, low-cost onsite-produced gas products and provides competitively-priced liquid backup. UCG onsite gas customers will enjoy long-term relief from unexpected price increases.

Many customers buying liquid nitrogen or liquid oxygen have grown tired of notices of base price increases and "temporary" transportation and power cost surcharges; but they typically find it hard to find another large company that can or will offer a more attractive alternative.  Even if they find equal or better unit pricing, they can be discouraged by the costs and hassles associated with replacing their current rented storage tank and vaporizer system with one from the new supplier.

Some liquid users signed purchase agreements for liquid nitrogen or oxygen when their demand was relatively low.  Now that their consumption has grown significantly, their needs could be met more cost effectively with an onsite gas supply.  But they often find that their bulk liquid supplier is uninterested in changing their supply arrangement.  Their existing supplier often prefers to meet their higher and still-growing requirements with even greater amounts of ever-more-costly bulk liquid for as long as possible.

Some current purchasers of onsite-produced nitrogen or oxygen are being served from an on-site plant that is too small for their current needs.  As a result, they must buy relatively large amounts of liquid products to supplement on-site production.  They often find that their onsite supplier (who is also their liquid backup supplier) seems to be quite content to sell ever-increasing amounts of costly supplemental liquid, and is unwilling to consider upgrading or replacing their onsite supply system prior to the end of their current supply period.   

New users of nitrogen and/ or oxygen, and existing users that would like to have a more customer-friendly industrial gas supplier, will find options with UCG. 

UIG and UCG will work with you to  define, install and operate an optimal supply system delivering low cost and reliable gaseous products, backed up with a competitively-priced bulk liquid supply. UIG-supplied on-site gas production systems can be, and often are, designed to allow co-production of liquid products at a rate sufficient to minimize or totally eliminate the need to purchase backup liquids. 

Unique to the industry, UCG not only allows customers the option to compare liquid backup pricing available from other suppliers when bulk liquid price changes are announced, but allows its customers to continue to use the UIG-supplied customer storage and vaporization station if another liquid supplier can reliably deliver bulk liquid products at lower cost.  

In some cases, UIG and UCG will consider high volume co-production of liquid products if the local bulk liquid market has more liquid demand than production capacity.  If installation of a high volume co-production (piggyback) plant can be justified, your company will benefit from lower gas and liquid backup costs, and others in the community will benefit as well. 

Replacing an All-Liquid Supply System:

Savings are generally at least 20% for onsite gas compared to vaporized liquid, and they can be more than twice as large.  Only a portion of the cost of onsite gas escalates over time - which means that there will almost always be significant growth in your savings over the life of the contract.

GrowthCo is serviced by an onsite gas plant that once met its needs well, but currently is maxed out, making 30 million SCF/ month of product.  Since GrowthCo currently requires an average of 46 million SCF/ month, it must purchase one truck load of liquid a day (16 million SCF/ month). 

In discussing onsite supply options with GrowthCo, UCG is told that GrowthCo does not anticipate any significant further growth in demand.  Analysis of GrowthCo's usage pattern shows that almost 90 percent of the time it consumes product at rates between the hourly equivalent of a 40 to 45 million SCF, and that 10% of the time its demand is between the hourly equivalent of 50 to 60 million SCF. 

To provide the most cost effective supply solution, UIG offers to install a plant with a capacity of 45 SCF/ month.  This plant will run very efficiently at close to maximum capacity all the time.

UIG is able to offer onsite gas pricing to GrowthCo which equates to a unit cost which is $0.02/ 100 SCF less than the incumbent's charge for onsite-produced gas and $0.12/ 100 SCF less than the cost of purchased liquid. 

During the first year of operation using the UCG system, 42 million SCF/ month of GrowthCo's demand will be met with onsite-produced gas (instead of 30 million SCF if the incumbent remains the supplier).

Liquid consumption, with the UCG system, will be 4 million SCF/ month (instead of 16 million SCF/ month if the incumbent remains the supplier.). 

GrowthCo will save $0.02/ 100 SCF on the first 30 million SCF/ month (the former maximum production rate).  That equals $72,000 a year. 

It will also save $0.12 per 100 SCF on 12 million SCF/ month (16 - 4 = 12) of avoided liquid purchases that have been replaced with onsite-produced gas.  These savings are worth another $173,000 a year. 

GrowthCo will realize total yearly savings of about $245,000 the first year. 

These savings will grow even if demand increases to a higher than expected level.  If the plant production displaces 15 million SCF/ month of bulk liquid, total saving will rise to almost $300,000 a year.

(Of course, if the customer had expected demand to rise more than a few percent, a somewhat larger UCG plant could have been installed, a minimal additional cost; which would pay off in decreased future liquid demand.). 

In either case, future savings should increase over time, as the price of liquid will normally rise more quickly than the cost of UCG-produced onsite gas.  

UCG can offer even greater savings to gas users if it can construct a "piggyback" gas and liquid production plant.  When UCG is able to justify building a plant to serve local demand for merchant liquid product (LOX, LIN and LAR) in addition to your gas (and/ or liquid) demand, a portion of the revenue from the third-party sales is used to lower the cost of product to the original on-site gas customer (the host plant). 

(For more information on factors affecting selection of an optimal production plant and related supply system components, see the section on Plant Selection and System Optimization.)

Our goals are to help you grow your business and take advantage of the benefits that industrial gases can bring to your operations by offering the best pricing and contract terms.

Call us, fax us, or click on the "Contact Us" link below to tell us about your requirements.