French oil company Total SA, Austria's Borealis AG and Canada-based Nova Chemicals Corp. on Feb. 19 announced that they have agreed to form a joint venture in petrochemicals on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The companies have signed definitive agreements under which Total will own 50 percent of the venture and Novealis Holdings LLC, a joint venture between Borealis and Nova Chemicals, will own the remaining 50 percent .
The joint venture will include the new $ 1.7 billion ethane steam cracker, with a capacity of 1 Mt/y, which is currently being built alongside Total's Port Arthur refinery and Total/BASF's existing steam cracker. The project, which is scheduled to start up in 2020, is expected to will create around 1,500 jobs during peak engineering and construction activity.
The project will further include Total's existing polyethylene 880-million-pound-per-year facility in Bayport, Texas, as well as a new a new 625 kiloton per year polyethylene unit using the Borealis Borstar technology at Total's Bayport, Texas, site.
“This agreement is a key milestone for this integrated petrochemicals project,” said Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals, Total.
Both Borealis CEO Mark Garrett and NOVA Chemicals CEO, Todd Karran underscored the importance of the present JV to the growth strategies of both companies, in the United States and globally.
In addition to which, said Garret, “we are convinced of the excellent cost-economics of this integrated brownfield investment project, and excited to bring our unique product grades based on our Borstar technology to the North American market.”