Air Products Completes Acquisition of Five Operating Hydrogen Plants for $530 Million from PBF Energy

Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it has completed the $530 million acquisition of five steam methane reformer (SMR) hydrogen production plants from PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE: PBF), and has commenced the long-term supply of hydrogen from those plants to PBF refineries. The newly acquired Air Products’ SMRs, with a combined production capacity of almost 300 million standard cubic feet per day, are located in Torrance and Martinez, California and Delaware City, Delaware. Air Products initially announced this now closed deal on March 30.

“We are very pleased that in close cooperation with our long-standing partner PBF, which is one of largest independent refiners in North America, that we have been able to close on this transaction in record time. We have now started supplying hydrogen to PBF from the five SMRs that we have purchased from them. This deal is an excellent example and demonstrates our ability to execute our strategy of investing in long-term onsite deals, which includes asset acquisitions like we have successfully closed. We look forward to a continued long-term relationship with PBF,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Air Products.

“PBF Energy is pleased to have worked cooperatively with Air Products, a global leader in the supply of hydrogen to refineries, to complete this transaction and expand the long-term relationship between our two companies,” said PBF’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nimbley. 

Air Products is known as a leader in the supply of 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 sulphur, olefins and aromatics to meet product fuels 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.

The company also operates one of the most successful carbon capture projects in the world in Port Arthur, Texas, where the captured carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected into the ground and used for enhanced oil recovery in the state. Since 2013, Air Products has captured nearly 10 million tons of CO2 at Port Arthur that has been put to beneficial use.

Air Products currently operates 12 industrial gas facilities in California, which includes five hydrogen production plants. The hydrogen from these plants is used in the making of ultra-low sulphur transportation fuels (gasoline, diesel and jet). Air Products also supplies hydrogen for fueling and fueling infrastructure in California to support the growing fleet of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. 

The Delaware City SMR is Air Products’ first major asset operating in Delaware.