Bayport Polymers, the 50:50 joint venture formed in May 2018 between Total and Novealis Holdings, itself a jv between Borealis and Nova Chemicals, has announced the final investment decision to build a 625,000 t/y PE plant in Bayport, USA.

The facility on the Texas Gulf Coast will use Borealis’s Borstar technology and more than double the site’s capacity to 1.1 million t/y. Start-up is scheduled for 2021.

“The power of this partnership between Total, Borealis and Nova Chemicals will enable us to become one of the largest players in the North American polyethylene markets,” said Diane Chamberlain, president of Bayport Polymers. “The Borstar technology, which will be used for the first time in North America, will allow us to better serve our customers with an increased range of high-value-added products.”

US contractor McDermott International has won the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction (EPFC) contract and will execute the project out of its Houston office. The construction group said the project will be based on a modular approach, using its facility in Altamira, Mexico, to fabricate and assemble the process and pipe rack modules. McDermott is also providing EPC services on Bayport Polymer’s ethane cracker in Port Arthur, Texas, which is under construction and due on stream in 2020. The new cracker will provide feedstock for the Bayport PE units. A 400,000 t/y PE plant at Bayport, previously owned by Total, is also part of the Bayport Polymers jv.