Total, Mubadala Proceed with US Gulf Petchems
France's Total said February 19 it has signed definitive agreements with Austria’s Borealis and Canada’s Nova – subsidiaries of Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala-IPIC – to form a joint petrochemicals venture on the US Gulf Coast, using low-cost gas.
The joint venture (jv) – in which Total will own 50% and Novealis Holdings, a joint venture of Borealis and Nova Chemicals, the remaining 50% – will commence subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals.
The venture will include: construction of a 1mn metric ton/yr ethane steam cracker in Port Arthur, Texas; Total’s existing 400,000 t/yr polyethylene facility in Bayport, Texas; and a new 625,000 t/yr polyethylene unit at Total’s Bayport, Texas, site, following a decision on the outcome of an acceptable engineering/procurement/construction (EPC) contract.
As announced in March 2017, the new $1.7bn ethane steam cracker is being built alongside Total’s Port Arthur refinery and Total/BASF existing steam cracker. The project, scheduled to start up in 2020, will create around 1,500 jobs during peak engineering and construction activity, said Total. “This joint venture is aligned with Total’s strategy to strengthen our position by taking advantage of low-cost US gas,” said Bernard Pinatel, Total's president of refining and chemicals.
Alberta-based Nova Chemicals is wholly-owned by Mubadala, while Borealis is 64%-36% owned by Mubadala and Austria-based OMV respectively.
A day earlier on February 18, another Mubadala subsidiary, Spanish refiner and upstream firm Cepsa, was awarded a 20% stake in a 40-year offshore concession covering two oil-only fields (SARB and Umm Lulu) by Abu Dhabi state producer Adnoc in return for a $1.5bn concession fee paid by Cepsa; the concession has 215,000 b/d (gross) production with Adnoc retaining 60% equity; a further 20% is yet to be awarded. Separately Adnoc is yet to award a 40% interest in the Umm Shaif/Nasr oil and gas field concession. Adnoc last month awarded work contracts for its planned offshore ultra-sour gas mega project (Hail, Ghasha and Dalma fields) that it expects will provide 20% of UAE gas demand by the second half of the 2020s.
Update: The European Commission said March 21 2018 it has cleared the above acquisition by Borealis, Nova and Total of joint control of Bayport Polymers.