Plant's Connection to Company's Gulf Coast Pipeline Provides Additional Reliability
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (December 21, 2006) - Air Products' (NYSE:APD) newest hydrogen production facility in Port Arthur, Texas is on-stream and supplying Valero Energy Corp.'s Port Arthur Refinery and additional customers on its industry-leading Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline system. This plant is the sixth North American hydrogen facility brought on-stream in 2006 by Air Products, the leading global hydrogen supplier, and the fourth in the U.S. These hydrogen facilities assist in the production of cleaner transportation fuels.
"We are very pleased to have commissioned our second facility at Port Arthur and to provide Valero and our Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline customers high-purity hydrogen. It has been a very busy and successful year in terms of bringing new plants on-stream in both the U.S. and Canada," said Jeffry L. Byrne, Air Products' vice president and general manager for Tonnage Gases. Air Products' other hydrogen facility at Port Arthur has been operating since 2001.
In addition to Port Arthur in 2006, Air Products brought on-stream hydrogen production facilities at Baytown, Texas; Convent, Louisiana; and Joliet, Illinois. Air Products also placed on-stream the largest outsourced hydrogen production facilities in Canada near Edmonton, Alberta and in Sarnia, Ontario. In 2006 Air Products has increased hydrogen production capacity by over 450 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD). The company also announced plans for a second Edmonton, Alberta facility to be on-stream in 2008 and be the first commercial plant in Canada to provide the sale of hydrogen for use in the upgrading of Canadian oil sands.
The Port Arthur hydrogen facility is part of Air Products' Gulf Coast pipeline network, which extends from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to Lake Charles, La., and from Baton Rouge to Norco, La., and east of New Orleans. This pipeline network provides a very highly reliable hydrogen supply to approximately 50 refinery and process industry customers. "We have increased our Gulf Coast pipeline system capacity to over 900 MMSCFD of hydrogen with recently completed projects, and we will continue to increase the size of our Gulf Coast hydrogen system in a manner that is consistent with the needs of our key refining and petrochemical customers," said Byrne.
The supply arrangement is one of over 30 that Air Products has undertaken with refiners worldwide, and the Texas hydrogen facility is the 27th to be built under the global alliance between Air Products and Technip. This alliance continues to provide the worldwide refining industry with competitive technology, plus world-class safety with "over the fence" hydrogen supply. Technip provides the design and construction expertise for steam reformers while Air Products provides the gas separation technology. Air Products, through its extensive operating network, and Technip, from its large reference base, also bring effective operational and engineering knowledge to "design-in" high reliability and efficiency. The plants are operated and maintained by Air Products under long-term agreements with customers.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE:APD) serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. Founded in 1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. The company is recognized for its innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the environment and is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE4Good Indices. The company has annual revenues of $9 billion, operations in over 40 countries, and over 20,000 employees around the globe. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.
About Valero Energy Corp.
Valero Energy Corp. is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio, with approximately 22,000 employees and annual revenues of more than $80 billion. The company owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.3 million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America. Valero is also one of the nation's largest retail operators with approximately 5,500 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names including Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Beacon. Please visit www.valero.com for more information.
About Technip
With a workforce of about 21,000 people, Technip ranks among the top five corporations in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York and Paris. The Group's main operations and engineering centers and business units are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. In support of its activities, the Group manufactures flexible pipes and umbilicals, and builds offshore platforms in its manufacturing plants and fabrication yards in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, Finland and Angola, and has a fleet of specialized vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction. Technip is the leading supplier of hydrogen
production facilities with more than 200 references worldwide. More information can be found at technip.com.
