Air Products & Chemicals Inc. APD announced Thursday an agreement to buy and operate a natural gas-to-syngas facility in Uzbekistan for $1 billion. The industrial gases company’s stock was still inactive in premarket trading. The energy facility is part of the state-owned Uzbekneftegaz JSC’s (UNG) gas-to-liquid (GTL) facility. Under terms of the deal, Air Products will own and operate two air separation units, two auto-thermal reforming units and a hydrogen production unit within the GTL complex, and supply oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and syngas under a contract to UNG. Air Products’ stock has dropped 12.1% year to date while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 7.2%.
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