$200M Expansion of Air Liquide Hydrogen System in Gulf Coast

24 October 2007

Air Liquide will invest €140 million (US$200 million) to expand the production, storage and pipeline delivery capacity of its Gulf Coast hydrogen system. This investment will allow Air Liquide to increase its hydrogen production capacity by 100,000 Nm³/hour, to reach a total capacity of more than 380,000 Nm³/hour.

As part of this expansion, Air Liquide will add a large hydrogen storage cavern on the Gulf Coast to enhance its flexibility in meeting increasing customer demand for hydrogen. As well, the pipeline network that presently covers 240 miles along the Gulf Coast will be extended 90 miles from Bayport to southeast Texas.

The Gulf Coast refining market processes 9 million barrels of crude oil daily. Hydrogen is today mainly used to reduce the sulfur content in automotive fuels and thus in polluting emissions. Hydrogen is also necessary to process heavy crude oil into useable fuels. The demand for hydrogen is driven by the need for refiners to expand production and comply with environmental regulations being progressively introduced around the world.

Over the past three years, Air Liquide has increased the worldwide production capacity of its hydrogen systems by 50%. Air Liquide presently operates 12 hydrogen production units in the US.

In the US, where our sales of hydrogen have more than doubled since 2000, we are expanding our hydrogen system with the most efficient and reliable production, storage and delivery infrastructure possible for this crucial molecule.

—Pierre Dufour, Air Liquide Group Executive Vice President

Air Liquide operates around 200 hydrogen production units around the world, of which 50 are large units. Its pipeline networks serve large customers in several industrial basins: Gulf Coast and the lower Mississippi River in the US, Antwerp/Rotterdam, Rhein/Ruhr, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and China.