The hidden hand

The oil giant that controls America's CO2

ExxonMobil's $4.9 billion acquisition of Mississippi's natural CO2 wells puts food industry supply chains under petroleum company control.

The number

$4.9billion acquisition price

Producer

Producer · Air Products

American industrial gas and hydrogen infrastructure company (NYSE: APD, HQ Allentown PA; ~$12B revenue); world's 3rd-largest industrial gas company and the leading investor in large-scale green hydrogen projects globally. Air Products produces industrial gases (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, helium) globally and is the operator of several major helium liquefaction plants (including facilities in Wyoming and internationally). Air Products' NEOM clean hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia (joint venture with ACWA Power and NEOM company) — the world's largest planned green hydrogen production facility — will produce green hydrogen (from solar/wind electrolysis) exported as ammonia and ultimately reconverted to hydrogen in global markets. Air Products is the one major industrial gas company most committed to the 'hydrogen economy' vision — its CEO Seifi Ghasemi has publicly stated that Air Products would transform from an industrial gas company into a clean hydrogen infrastructure company. The same company that provides helium to hospital MRI machines is simultaneously building the largest green hydrogen plant on Earth in the Saudi desert.

Surprise score

92 / 100

ExxonMobil bought Denbury Resources to convert Jackson Dome—the largest natural CO2 source in the eastern US—from a food-industry supplier into a carbon storage sink for industrial capture. Food processors now compete with climate initiatives for access to CO2 previously reserved for carbonation, dry ice, and modified atmosphere packaging.

Source: Denbury Inc. Form 8-K — ExxonMobil Acquisition Closing (Ex. 99.1) · U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Denbury filing) · Nov 2, 2023

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The oil giant that controls America's CO2

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