Nova Chemicals and Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals (SPMT), part of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), have entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop an ethylene export terminal on the US Gulf Coast.

Under the MoU, the companies will seek commitments from the market for a start-up of the terminal by mid-2020. The facility is anticipated to have the capability to export 800,000 t/y of ethylene to markets worldwide.

The project would connect the Lone Star natural gas liquids (NGL) storage facility at Mont Belvieu, Texas, the site of Nova’s ethylene hub, and the Louisiana ethylene market to the export terminal via existing pipelines. Nova operates the hub under a long-term lease from Lone Star, which is an affiliate of SPMT.

Naushad Jamani, senior vice president for olefins & feedstock at Nova Chemicals, said the project builds upon the company’s leadership position in the continually expanding North American ethylene industry and would further extend the company’s presence in the US Gulf Coast.

Last July, Nova paid $2.1 billion to buy Williams’ 88.46% share in the olefins plant at Geismar, Louisiana, along with undeveloped land adjacent to the facility and Williams’ interest in the Mont Belvieu ethylene trading hub.

Nova also firmed up plans last month for a joint ethylene/PE complex on the Texas Gulf Coast with Total and Borealis. The venture will include Total’s existing 400,000 t/y PE plant in Bayport, a 1 million t/y cracker under construction at Port Arthur and a new 625,000 t/y Borstar PE plant in Bayport.

Earlier this month, ETP announced it was to partner Satellite Petrochemical USA in building another export terminal on the US Gulf Coast. The jv, called Orbit Gulf Coast NGL Exports, will construct an ethane pipeline from ETP’s Mont Belvieu fractionators to the new terminal, an 800,000 bbl ethane storage tank and a 175,000 bb/d refrigeration facility.

The facility that would provide ethane for Satellite’s new crackers in Jiangsu, China, is scheduled to go into commercial service in the fourth quarter of 2020, depending on approvals from the Chinese government.