Société d'Oxygène et d'Acétylène du Liban S.A.L. SOAL Information

Founded in 1961 to hold and manage the assets of the pioneers in the industrial gas business, Air Liquide Liban S.A.L.(50% shareholder) & L’Union Chimique S.A.L.(50% shareholder), S.O.A.L. has since expanded its reach to serve the Lebanese market. After the absorption of its shareholders’ industrial assets in 1988, S.O.A.L. secured a big investment to later acquire a land in the Dekwaneh industrial zone where it erected its production plants in 1990. Since its inception, SOAL has managed to stay the leader of medical and industrial gases markets in Lebanon and has ensured the supply of these essential gases during the darkest hours of modern Lebanese history starting from the civil war – between 1975 and 1990 – through the multiple Israeli invasions in 1978, 1982 and 2006 till the recent internal political and economic unrest and collapse – ongoing since 2019. Another major turning point in SOAL’s history wasthe significant investment it did between 2011 and 2013 to renew its production assets and move them from the heart of Beirut’s suburbs to the industrial zone of Chekka (North Lebanon). There, in a modernized industrial site, SOAL is operating with the highest technology standards with respect to the environment. Amidst the 2017 unrest in Lebanon, SOAL’s shares were acquired by new Lebanese shareholders that injected funds to maintain the company’s operations, rise above the pressing challenges and continue supplying the Lebanese market with the best medical and food grade quality gases. SOAL proved to be successful one more time in 2020 when it stood up to the ‘Corona’ challenge and succeeded in continuously supplying the Lebanese healthcare market with the highly required medical oxygen gas (up to 7 times the normal consumption in some areas). This performance was based on a well-trained, dedicated and passionate team of professionals that have not spared any effort to eagerly pursue their mission during these hard times.