Air Products and Chemicals to supply hydrogen to Shell refinery in Rotterdam

Air Products and Chemicals in Shell hydrogen deal

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — Air Products and Chemicals Inc., which supplies oxygen and other gases to industrial and medical companies, said Monday it will supply hydrogen to a Royal Dutch Shell refinery in the Netherlands.

Air Products, based in Lehigh Valley, Pa., said it will supply Shell the hydrogen via a pipeline and add an extension of more than 6 miles to its 80-mile pipeline system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Shell facility pipeline extension will be linked to an Air Products hydrogen production plant in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The supply will be available in 2011, Air Products said.

Denis Deheusch, an Air Products general manager in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, said the hydrogen will present Shell with a safe and reliable hydrogen supply for its refinery operations while also making cleaner burning transportation fuel.

Shares of Air Products rose 29 cents, to $82.40 in morning trading. Shell fell $1.56, or 2.6 percent, to $59.18.