Linde Charts Clean-Energy Course with 10-Year, $50 Billion Plan

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) (Woking, England) is increasingly optimistic about its earnings guidance for full-year 2023, as global demand for clean energy is boosting fortunes at the world's largest industrial gases company. Although its global sales fell 7% in the third quarter, the company expects to invest more than $50 billion worldwide over the next 10 years as the U.S. and other governments encourage and incentivize low-carbon energy. Industrial Info is tracking more than $2.5 billion worth of active and planned Linde projects across the U.S., more than 80% of which is attributed to grassroot projects.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing Linde's active and planned U.S.-based projects, by type.

In a quarterly earnings-related conference call, Linde executives announced the company had raised its annual earnings guidance for a third time in 2023. This followed news that Linde's third-quarter net income totaled $1.57 billion, up 23% from the same period last year. Full-year capital expenditures are expected to range between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, including two projects that started construction in 2022 and are set to wrap up before the end of the year: the $83 million addition of a hydrogen unit at its plant in McIntosh, Alabama, and the $20 million expansion of a hydrogen complex in Port Arthur, Texas.

While the McIntosh expansion is intended to reinforce Linde's supply network to the aerospace, electronics and manufacturing sectors, the Port Arthur expansion will cater to Motiva Enterprises LLC's (Houston) neighboring refinery. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can read detailed reports on the McIntosh and Port Arthur projects.

Another project at the McIntosh facility, the $20 million addition of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit, began construction this summer and is set to be completed in second-quarter 2024. The unit will ensure McIntosh's new hydrogen unit will be categorized as "blue," meaning that all carbon emitted will be captured and stored. This follows Linde's decision earlier this year to sign a long-term agreement to supply blue hydrogen and other industrial gases to OCI Beaumont LLC's (Nederland, Texas) $2.8 billion ammonia unit addition at its methanol and ammonia complex in Nederland, which is designed to produce about 1.1 million tons per year of blue ammonia.

Subscribers can read detailed reports on the CCS units at McIntosh and Nederland, and learn more from Industrial Info's February 7, 2023, article - Linde's U.S. Growth Shows Shades of Green, Blue.

"Blue hydrogen projects, I find, are the ones that continue to make good progress," said Sanjiv Lamba, the chief executive officer of Linde, in the conference call. "And we are finding that--despite the high interest rates and some capital cost inflation in the marketplace--there is an economic case to pursue those, particularly given the incentives that come out of the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act]."

Blue hydrogen's potential for domestic development has been significantly boosted by the nearly $20 billion in funds available from the bipartisan infrastructure bill and President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, both enacted in 2022.

Other Linde projects under construction include the $40 million expansion of the Cape Kennedy Air Separation Plant in Mims, Florida. The company aims to increase the facility's production of oxygen, nitrogen and argon roughly 50% to an estimated 200 tons per day, through the installation of new modular skid equipment and the revamp of existing equipment. The project began construction roughly one year ago and is set to wrap up in fourth-quarter 2024. Subscribers can learn more from Industrial Info's project report.

In addition to the abovementioned capital-spending projects, Industrial Info is tracking more than 80 maintenance-related projects planned or underway at Linde facilities across the U.S. Subscribers can click here for a list of detailed project reports.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed reports for active and proposed U.S.-based projects from Linde.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).