Air Products delays $8 billion Ascension plant | Business News
Air Products said it is delaying the startup of its $8 billion blue hydrogen manufacturing complex in Ascension Parish and won’t move forward with the project until it sells off the facility’s carbon capture and ammonia portions.
The earliest the facility will begin production won’t be until 2028 or 2029, Air Products CEO Eduardo Menezes said Thursday during a quarterly earnings call with analysts.
“To be clear, Air Products is an industrial gases company and does not intend to be a retail marketer of ammonia,” Menezes said. Menezes, who took over as CEO in February, said the company had moved away from its core businesses in search of growth.
Air Products halted spending on the blue hydrogen manufacturing plant, Menezes said. He said the company has had ongoing negotiations with other companies about handling the carbon capture and ammonia divestiture.
Air Products announced plans for the clean energy facility in October 2021 and said the facility near Burnside would open by 2026.
The company plans to produce “blue hydrogen” at the plant, which is created by extracting methane from natural gas. Customers would use blue hydrogen to generate electricity and power vehicles. At the time of the announcement, Air Products officials said the facility would produce more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen – enough to power 3 million cars. The carbon dioxide from that production process would be captured, transported down a 37-mile pipeline to Lake Maurepas and injected deep underground.
But the project has raised the ire of nearby residents, who are concerned about emissions and the proximity of the plant to Sorrento Primary School, and environmental groups, who say the plant will have little climate benefits and cost taxpayers billions, because of the federal tax credits for carbon capture and storage. Air Products has promoted the economic benefits of the plant, which would create 170 permanent jobs, and said it will help reduce carbon emissions by making hydrogen and ammonia.