Air Products, an industrial gas company, has signed agreements with PBF Energy Inc. that include the $530 million purchase of five hydrogen steam methane reformer (SMR) hydrogen production plants and the long-term supply of hydrogen from those already operating plants to PBF refineries.
The SMRs, with a combined 300 million standard cubic feet per day of production capacity, are located in Torrance and Martinez, Calif. and Delaware City, Del. The deal is targeted to close during the third quarter of Air Products’ 2020 fiscal year.
“Air Products has a very strong balance sheet. This puts us in a financial position to execute our strategy of investing in long-term onsite deals, which includes asset acquisitions,” says Seifi Ghasemi, chairman, president and CEO of Air Products.
“With this acquisition, not only do we gain five SMR plants, but we also secure a long-term hydrogen sale of gas agreement with an existing customer who is one of the largest independent refiners in North America,” he adds.
Air Products supplies hydrogen to refineries in order to make cleaner burning transportation fuels. Hydrogen is widely used in petroleum refining processes to remove impurities found in crude oil such as sulfur, olefins and aromatics to meet product fuel specifications. Removing these components allows gasoline and diesel to burn cleaner and thus makes hydrogen a critical component in the production of cleaner fuels needed by modern, efficient internal combustion engines.
Source: https://ngtnews.com/air-products-acquires-five-hydrogen-plants
