Air Products to Invest $500 Million in Gas-Production Facilities Along Gulf Coast
January 09, 2020 at 01:50 pm
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Air Products announced that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in projects toward a proposed ammonia production plant along the Gulf Coast. The Trexlertown global industrial gas giant said it has locked in to deals for 20 years to supply hydrogen and nitrogen. Specifically, Air Products will build, own and operate a hydrogen-production facility, a nitrogen air-separation unit and a steam turbine generator to supply power. The work will go toward a planned $600 million ammonia production plant for Gulf Coast Ammonia in Texas City, Texas, that is expected to produce 1.3 million tons of the gas used to make fertilizer. In all, Air Products said it plans to invest $500 million in contracts, its largest U.S. investment in the Lehigh Valley company's history, company CEO Seifi Ghasemi said in an afternoon conference call with analysts. He also said officials believe it is the single-largest investment made by any gas company in the country. The project also includes extending a hydrogen pipeline between Texas City and Baytown, Texas. The pipeline segment of the project is targeted for completion in the second half of 2021, with the ammonia plant expected to begin commercial operation in the first half of 2023. The pipeline supplies customers with about 1.7 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 24 hydrogen production facilities. The company also has hydrogen pipelines in California, Canada and the Netherlands. Air Products is building a $400 million headquarters not far from its current corporate office in Trexlertown, with plans to sell its current headquarters and 41 acres to German specialty chemical company Evonik to offset some of that cost.
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of gases. The activity is organized around 4 families of products:
- bulk gases: industrial gases (oxygen, nitrogen and argon), hydrogen and helium, medical and specialty gases delivered by tankers or tube trailers, in cylinders or through small on-site gas generation plants for metal, glass, chemical processing, food processing, healthcare, steel, petroleum and natural gas industries;
- tonnage gases: industrial gases (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen and oxygen) supplied via large on-site facilities or pipeline systems, principally for customers in the petrochemical, chemical, and metallurgical industries;
- performance chemicals;
- cryogenic and gas processing equipment: for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and helium distribution.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the United States (41.5%), China (15.8%), and other (42.7%).