Dive Brief:
- ExxonMobil is partnering with industrial gases and services provider Air Liquide to boost the oil major’s low-carbon hydrogen project in Baytown, Texas, the energy giant announced Monday.
- Air Liquide will invest up to $850 million to construct and operate four large modular air separation units and associated infrastructure to support Exxon’s clean energy initiative in the Lone Star State, according to the Paris-based company. The oil and gas corporation previously said the project would help accelerate its pathway to reaching net-zero status across its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050.
- Exxon said the collaboration will also allow it to leverage Air Liquide’s existing pipeline network and transport the hydrogen generated at the facility to clients with operations in the U.S. Gulf Coast, helping support their decarbonization initiatives.
Dive Insight:
The new Air Liquide-sponsored additions will provide Exxon with ample amounts of oxygen and nitrogen — 6,500 and 9,000 metric tons, respectively — needed to produce low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia. The oxygen supplied by the French multinational, in particular, supports the fusion of low-carbon hydrogen into low-carbon ammonia, positioning it as a low-carbon energy source.
The four units will utilize either renewable or low-carbon electricity to reduce the project’s carbon footprint, the companies said in a release.
Upon unveiling its hydrogen production facility last year, Exxon said it expects to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen derived from natural gas per day, and anticipates 98% of the carbon dioxide emissions — or approximately 7 million tons of carbon dioxide — generated from the project annually to be captured and stored underground. The project is poised to be the largest low-carbon hydrogen project in the world, according to the oil major.
Exxon also said utilizing hydrogen to fuel its olefins plant at Baytown, where the low-carbon hydrogen facility is also based, would slash its site-wide emissions by 30% compared to current operations.
Dan Ammann, president of Exxon’s low carbon solutions division, said the partnership with Air Liquide “strengthens” its hydrogen project by propelling distribution of low-carbon hydrogen through the industrial gas company’s existing networks and helps in “securing key feedstocks.”
The news comes a week after a Texas federal judge dismissed Exxon’s contentious lawsuit against activist shareholders. The oil major filed the suit in January in response to investors Arjuna Capital and Follow This asking it to ramp up its emissions reduction efforts — a request Exxon alleged violated federal securities laws.
