Nova Chemical to Focus on Production After Sale of Ethylene Storage Hub
July 06, 2021
Nova Chemicals said it will focus on its core business of Ethylene and Polyethylene production following the sale of its Mont Belvieu, Texas Ethylene storage business and trading hub to Enterprise Products Partners.
As part of the Ethylene storage business and trading hub acquisition, which was announced last week, Nova Chemicals will be a long-term storage customer in the Enterprise system.
"The acquisition, which gives Enterprise ownership of the largest ethylene market hub in Texas since it was established in 2001, will complement Enterprise's own growing ethylene network in the region," said Petrochemicals Senior Vice President of Enterprise Products, Chris D'Anna. "The combined system offers multiple benefits for producers, consumers and traders, such as increased physical connectivity, greater market liquidity and pricing transparency, as well as improved access to Enterprise's Ethylene midstream services, including our export terminal and growing Gulf Coast pipeline system."
John Thayer, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Nova Chemicals, added the transaction provides the best long-term solution for the Mont Belvieu ethylene storage business and trading hub. In addition to focusing on the company's core business of Ethylene and PE production, Thayer said the Nova would also focus on the completion of its world-class Advanced SCLAIRTEC technology (AST) facility in Ontario, Canada, which will deliver recycle-ready resins for sustainable packaging solutions.
NOVA said back in April the AST unit and the third phase of its Corunna Cracker Expansion Project in Ontario surpassed 65% completion. The company estimates the C$2.5 billion (USD $2 billion) expansion project will commence complete start-up activities in late 2022, after the Corunna Site turnaround which is targeted for spring 2022.
The new AST PE unit, located at the new Rokeby Site in St. Clair Township, Ontario, will have a capacity of approximately 1 billion lb/year. The cracker expansion will provide ethylene feedstock to the new AST facility, expanding the existing unit's current capacity by more than 50%.
The Corunna site produces 1.8 billion lb/year of ethylene and up to 250 million lb/year of co-products annually. Corunna provides feedstock to its Moore Site and St. Clair River Sites, which convert the ethylene into 1.38 billion lb/year of polyethylene. Ethane, a component of natural gas, is the primary feedstock for ethylene production at Corunna Site.
By Brian Balboa for The Plastics Exchange.
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