Bayport Polymers LLC (Bay-Pol)—an equal joint venture of Total SA and the Borealis AG-Nova Chemicals Inc. JV Novealis Holdings LLC—has taken final investment decision to build a 625,000-tonne/year polyethylene (PE) unit at the Bay-Pol’s 400,000-tpy PE production site in Bayport, Tex.
To be equipped with Borealis’ proprietary Borstar PE process technology, the unit will more than double the site’s PE production capacity to 1.1 million tpy, Bay-Pol said.
With a contract for engineering, procurement, and construction of the project already awarded to McDermott International Inc. (formerly CB&I), the unit is scheduled for startup sometime in 2021.
Bay-Pol, however, did not disclose a value of the project investment.
First announced in May, the proposed Borstar PE 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].
