Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has signed a 15-year agreement to supply Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) with carbon monoxide, as well as oxygen and nitrogen, in the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Praxair will deliver high-purity carbon monoxide to Celanese from a new, state-of-the-art carbon monoxide and hydrogen plant that will be built, owned and operated by Praxair. The company will also expand its extensive hydrogen pipeline network to enable the supply of 80 million cubic feet per day of co-produced hydrogen to meet the requirements of other new customers along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Additionally, Praxair will build a new air separation unit on its nitrogen and oxygen pipeline network that will provide the industrial gases required by Celanese.
These plants and pipeline expansions require a combined investment of more than $300 million and further strengthen Praxair’s production network, benefitting all customers along its U.S. Gulf Coast pipeline systems. The new facilities and pipeline assets will begin operations in the year 2020 to meet Celanese’s long-term industrial gas demands and those of other new customers. Praxair continues to evaluate sites for these new plants and supporting infrastructure.
Praxair’s pipeline systems are currently supported by multiple hydrogen and air separation plants and product storage capabilities, including the company’s 2.5 billion-cubic-foot, high-purity hydrogen storage cavern. Together with the previously announced Geismar, Louisiana, project that will start up in the second half of 2018, Praxair’s carbon monoxide capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast will more than double. The increased demand for industrial gases in the region results from the availability of abundant, low-cost shale gas in the U.S.
“Praxair’s long history of successfully integrating and executing multiple projects was critical for this award. We are uniquely positioned to reliably supply industrial gases to our customers through our extensive pipeline network in the Gulf Coast region,” said Steve Angel, chairman and chief executive officer, Praxair, Inc. “We are proud to be a key supplier to Celanese and build our relationship for the long term through these projects with this world-class company.”
“Our sourcing effort at Celanese was driven by the goal to secure a stable and reliable supply of critical raw materials for our operations to enable us to reach our future growth and financial goals,” said Mark Rohr, Celanese chairman and chief executive officer. “As we evaluated our future industrial gas requirements, Praxair stood out as the clear choice, and Celanese is pleased to reach this mutual, multi-year agreement.”