Refiners increasingly look to suppliers for hydrogen

Hydrogen supplied to refiners by merchant producers increased by 135% between 2008 and 2014, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). These suppliers are able to provide a consistent supply of hydrogen through use of steam methane reformers and by-product hydrogen from nearby chemical plants, EIA said. Refiners’ demand for natural gas, meanwhile, has remained essentially flat over that same period even though their use of hydrogen has climbed 60%.