Air Products CEO spells out new reality for clean hydrogen

Projects will progress only if they are backed by firm offtake deals, with much of firm’s clean hydrogen portfolio underperforming, Eduardo F. Menezes tells investors

Air Products’ recently installed CEO, Eduardo F. Menezes, has delivered a sobering assessment of the US industrial gases firm’s clean hydrogen portfolio, reflecting the new mood of caution sweeping through this once over-hyped sector. Menezes is “cautiously optimistic” about the firm’s biggest two projects: Neom Green Hydrogen in Saudi Arabia and the Louisiana Blue project in the US. However, he rated the rest of the clean hydrogen portfolio as “underperforming” as he used his second-quarter earning’s report to double down on his mission to refocus the company on its core strengths: industrial gases production backed by log-term offtake deals. Air Products is the world’s largest producer of