France’s Total and the Novealis joint venture of Mubadala subsidiaries Austria’s Borealis and Canada’s Nova Chemicals have greenlit a 50:50 $1.7bn joint project based around a 1mn t/y ethane cracker under construction at Port Arthur, Texas.
The plant is due to come online in 2020 processing locally-produced shale gas. Besides the cracker, the venture will operate Total’s existing 400,000 t/y polyethylene (PE) plant at Bayport, Texas, 120km west of the cracker and a new 625,000 t/y PE plant to be built alongside the existing unit (MEES, 2 March). US contractor McDermott was last week awarded an EPC contract for the new PE plant, which is due to start up in 2021. US gas output has soared in recent years topping 100bn cfd for the first time ever in July. (CONTINUED - 130 WORDS)