Air Products Signs Agreement to Build, Own and Operate Syngas Supply Facility for Bharat Petroleum in India

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Jan. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced the signing of a long-term agreement with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to build, own and operate a new syngas production facility at the BPCL Kochi Refinery in Kochi, India to supply BPCL's new Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project (PDPP). Air Products already operates a world-scale industrial gas complex which was commissioned in 2017 to support the BPCL Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP) at the same location.

"Air Products is excited to sign a second supply contract with BPCL at Kochi. This agreement strengthens the relationship between Air Products and BPCL, and also demonstrates our commitment to business in India," said Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products' chairman, president and chief executive officer. "As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, we are certainly focused on making sound investments in India with reputable companies like BPCL. We want to continue growing our presence and strong relationships in the region as the safest and most innovative industrial gas company."

"The commissioning of the IREP in 2017 has made the BPCL Kochi Refinery the largest Public Sector refinery in the country and enabled it to manufacture auto-fuels complying with the required Bharat Stage IV (Euro IV) specifications and a greater depth of conversion. We are happy to partner with leading global players such as Air Products to achieve this target," said Mr. R. Ramachandran, Director (Refineries) at BPCL.

"The PDPP enables BPCL to enter the Indian petrochemical market and enhance the value obtained from its refining operations. BPCL values having a long-term reliable supply of syngas and other industrial gases to support these new petrochemical production units," said Mr. Prasad K. Panicker, Executive Director, BPCL Kochi Refinery.

The syngas unit will employ Air Products' proprietary cryogenic gas separation technologies to produce a hydrogen/carbon monoxide syngas which will feed the new PDPP, which BPCL is developing to serve the growing domestic market in India. The addition of the syngas unit will complement the on-going operations of Air Products' industrial gas complex which now supplies hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and steam to BPCL's Kochi Refinery.

"We are delighted to be expanding our Kochi Industrial Gas Complex to support the continued development and expansion of BPCL's Kochi Refinery," said Richard Boocock, president, Industrial Gases – Middle East, India, Egypt and Turkey at Air Products. "It's a privilege to be able to bring yet more of our innovative and proprietary technologies to this world-scale industrial gas complex."

Boocock added that Air Products has deployed quite an innovative combination of technologies in order to meet BPCL's varied, tonnage industrial gas supply needs at the Kochi facility. The innovative combination of technologies includes:

• two steam methane reformer (SMR) trains, designed and built by Air Products through its Global Alliance with TechnipFMC, to produce over 15 tonnes per hour of hydrogen for use in the production of cleaner burning transportation fuels;
• a cryogenic syngas purification system to create a mixture of approximately 14 tonnes per hour of purified hydrogen and carbon monoxide;
• an air separation unit to produce nitrogen and oxygen for the refinery and petrochemical complex; and
• a gas turbine to produce power for the Air Products facilities.

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 approximately $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.

Air Products in India

Since 2009, Air Products has expanded its industrial gas operations and supply presence in India as an engineering company. From an engineering center based in Pune, the company provides technology and equipment for air separation, hydrogen generation and associated technologies for industrial gases applications.

Air Products initially entered India in January 1999 as a joint venture (JV) company called INOX Air Products Pvt. Ltd. Better known as INOXAP, the JV is jointly owned by the Jain family -- former owners of the Industrial Oxygen Company -- and Air Products. INOXAP is head-quartered in Mumbai.

INOXAP represents a significant part of Air Products' business interests in India. The JV has more than 35 operating locations and 1,200 employees throughout India; and is one of largest manufacturers and suppliers of industrial gases including: oxygen, nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and specialty gas mixtures throughout the country. The company specialises in providing products, technologies and services to a vast cross-section of industries including the chemical, pharmaceutical, metals, steel, food, wastewater treatment, cement, glass, textiles, paint, medical and pulp and paper sectors, among other markets.

About BPCL
The Maharatna BPCL is India's second largest public sector oil company and a Global Fortune 500 company with four domestic refineries, two of which, Kochi and Mumbai, are wholly owned. The company reported USD 36.08 billion in annual sales and total assets of USD 14.19 billion on their 2017 financial statements. It is listed on the Indian Stock exchange and is 54.93% owned by the Indian Government. For more information, visit www.bharatpetroleum.in.

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.

SOURCE Air Products

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