Air Products Breaks Ground at Huntsman Site in Louisiana for Industrial Gases Production Plant to Supply Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen to Huntsman

New Facility Will Be Connected to World's Largest Hydrogen Pipeline and Network System

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Apr 03, 2018, 03:40 ET

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) and Huntsman jointly gathered today for a groundbreaking ceremony held at the site of what will be Air Products' new steam methane reformer (SMR) and cold box in Geismar, Louisiana. Air Products will build, own and operate the facility under a long-term agreement and industrial gases including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen and steam will be produced and supplied to Huntsman's neighboring Geismar operations. The new facility is to be commercially onstream in early 2020.

"It is always exciting to break ground for a new world-scale facility, and especially to do so at a location where it will primarily serve a long-standing customer. We have supplied Huntsman with industrial gases at other facilities where they have operations and we are pleased to expand our relationship through this new supply supporting Huntsman at Geismar. The Air Products plant will be state-of-the-art in terms of high reliability and sustainability, with enhanced energy efficiency and reduced emissions," said Corning Painter, executive vice president – Industrial Gases at Air Products.

Tony Hankins, president of Huntsman Polyurethanes said, "The reliability and environmental performance of the new industrial gases plant from Air Products will be an important foundation in supporting the delivery of our North American Polyurethanes strategy. As a business, we are focused on rapidly building our downstream footprint and capabilities. This strategic shift can only be achieved with a strong upstream asset position at our Geismar MDI facility. We look forward to the successful commissioning of the Air Products plant in early 2020."

The new facility, to be located on land leased from Huntsman, will produce approximately 6.5 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of CO, 50 MMSCFD of hydrogen, and up to 50,000 pounds per hour of steam. There is also the ability for the facility to be expanded to increase CO in the future to support additional growth.

Beyond supply to Huntsman's production facility in Geismar, Air Products' new plant will also be connected to its Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline and network system (GCP). Dedicated in 2012, the 600-mile pipeline span is the world's largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system. The GCP stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and supplies customers with over 1.4 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 22 hydrogen production facilities.

"We recently announced increased hydrogen capacity to the Gulf Coast pipeline for customers with an onstream project in Texas, and now we will again have added enhanced and reliable hydrogen supply to the pipeline network when this Geismar facility is placed onstream. We continually seek additional sources of hydrogen to add product supply capacity to our customers along our well-established pipeline network system along the Gulf Coast," said Painter.

About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases company in operation for over 75 years. The Company's core industrial gases business provides atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

The Company had fiscal 2017 sales of $8.2 billion from continuing operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 15,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from a diversity of backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

About Huntsman
Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2017 revenues of approximately $8 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 75 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 10,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2017.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Downloadable photos from today's event are available in Air Products' online News Center.

SOURCE Air Products