McDermott details contract for Bay-Pol’s Bayport PE unit

McDermott International Inc. (formerly CB&I) has confirmed details of its scope of work on an earlier awarded contract by Bayport Polymers LLC (Bay-Pol)—an equal joint venture of Total SA and the Borealis AG-Nova Chemicals Inc. JV Novealis Holdings LLC—for the Borstar Bay3 project at Bay-Pol’s existing 400,000-tonne/year polyethylene (PE) production site in Bayport, Tex. (OGJ Online, Sept. 25, 2018).

McDermott’s scope of work on the Borstar Bay3 project includes engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction of a 625,000-tpy high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant based on a modular approach that will use McDermott’s operations in Altamira, Mexico, to efficiently fabricate and assemble process and pipe rack modules, the service provider said.

With project execution to be led out of its Houston offices, McDermott said it will leverage the strength of its US Gulf Coast direct-hire construction capabilities and include use of specialty subcontracts during the construction phase.

While McDermott did not disclose a value of the EPFC contract, the service provider did confirm mechanical completion and construction of the Borstar Bay3 project are scheduled to be completed in 2021, with the new plant to be ready for hydrocarbon introduction also in 2021.

First announced in May, the proposed Borstar HDPE plant project comes as part of Bay-Pol’s strategy to help meet growing global demand for PE by taking advantage of competitively priced ethane feedstock from US shale production and easy export access to markets abroad and follows official start of construction on Bay-Pol’s 1 million-tpy ethane steam cracker at Total’s 200,000-b/d integrated refining complex in Port Arthur, Tex. (OGJ Online, June 5, 2018).

The $1.7-billion ethane steam cracker—on which McDermott is also delivering EPC services—remains on schedule for commissioning in late 2020.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].