|
Companies to Complete 16th & 17th Hydrogen Facilities in 2002
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (April 24, 2002) — For nearly 10 years, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: APD) and the Technip-Coflexip Group (NYSE: TKP and Euronext: 13170) have provided the worldwide refining industry with competitive technology, plus world-class safety and reliability with "over the fence" hydrogen supply. Refiners can now count on this cooperation for another decade as Air Products and Technip-Coflexip announced today the signing of a 10-year agreement extending this successful alliance through 2011.
Both companies bring a long history of hydrogen experience to their role in the alliance. Technip-Coflexip provides the design and construction expertise for steam methane reformers. Air Products provides the gas cleanup technology and, through its operating network, brings operational and engineering knowledge to "design-in" high reliability and efficiency, and then operates and maintains the facilities for customers under long-term agreements. Through this extended collaborative agreement, Air Products and Technip-Coflexip will also pursue research and development to further enhance their offering, which now ranges from one million to 100 million standard-cubic-feet-per-day (SCFD).
"We look forward to another decade of working with Technip-Coflexip. This alliance has been a very successful one, as evidenced by a track record of 15-plus projects," said Scott A. Sherman, Air Products' vice president and general manager, Chemical and Process Industries. "This team has consistently provided our customers with superior plant technology and performance based on competitive plant design, faster bid responses and shorter project schedules. Our alliance, in particular, has helped the refining industry meet its increased hydrogen needs to comply with clean transportation fuel regulations without the extensive upfront engineering and capital costs involved with buying, owning and operating plants."
"Technip has enjoyed the benefits which have come from the strength of a 10-year relationship between Air Products as owner-operator and Technip as designer-contractor," said Larry D.J. Pope, President and CEO of Technip-Coflexip USA. "The safety, operational and cost benefits of our teams working together to build almost a billion standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen have provided our customers with unique value that only this relationship could have provided."
The initial alliance agreement, signed in 1992, was to supply on-site hydrogen to the North American refining industry. In 1995 the two companies expanded the geographic scope of their alliance to include building and operating hydrogen production facilities for the industry on a global basis.
Together the two companies have successfully completed 15 projects to date, beginning with a 25 million SCFD hydrogen plant at Tosco Refining Company's Avon refinery near Martinez, California in 1994. Most recently, the alliance completed the on-time start-up of a 100 million SCFD hydrogen facility at The Premcor Refining Group, Inc.'s 250,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, which is the alliance's largest plant to date. At Port Arthur, the project scope also went beyond reliable delivery of hydrogen, as significant quantities of steam and power are also provided to Premcor from an integrated gas turbine. Air Products' and Technip-Coflexip's 16th and 17th projects are currently under way in Europe. Scheduled for start-up in 2002 are a project in the UK and a 60 million SCFD hydrogen facility to supply Repsol-YPF's new hydrocracker.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (www.airproducts.com) is the world's only combined gases and chemicals company. Founded more than 60 years ago, the business has annual revenues of $5.7 billion and operations in 30 countries. Air Products is a market leader in the global electronics and chemical processing industries, and a long-standing innovator in many industrial markets, including coatings, adhesives and polyurethanes. The company distinguishes itself through its 18,000 employees around the world, who build lasting relationships with their customers and communities based on understanding, integrity and passion.
With a workforce of about 18,000 and annual revenues of about 5 billion euros, TECHNIP-COFLEXIP ranks among the top five in the field of oil and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York (NYSE: TKP) and in Paris (EURONEXT: 13170). The main engineering and business centers of Technip-Coflexip are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. The Group has high-quality industrial and construction facilities in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, and Finland as well as a world class fleet of offshore construction vessels.
TECHNIP-COFLEXIP's website is accessible at: http://www.technip-coflexip.com.
|
|
