Nova Chemicals

Last updated

NOVA Chemicals Corporation
Company type Private
Industry Petrochemical industry
Founded8 April 1954 (1954-04-08)
Headquarters Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Key people
Roger Kearns CEO (April 2023)
Products Ethylene, Polyethylene, Chemical and Energy Co-Products
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$3.512 billion (2016) [1]
Number of employees
2,500 (2022) [2]
Parent Mubadala
Website www.novachemicals.com

NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a Canadian petrochemical company that has been in operation since 1954. NOVA was formed as provincial crown corporation called the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company Limited to manage Alberta's natural gas collection system. During the 1970s, the company diversified into petroleum exploration and production, manufacturing, and petrochemicals. In 1980 the AGTL was renamed NOVA, An Alberta Corporation. After a decade of financial struggles, in 1998 NOVA sold its petroleum and pipeline business to TransCanada Pipelines and continued as solely a petrochemicals operation. The gas collection system run by TransCanada is now called the NOVA Gas Transmission Line.

Contents

NOVA Chemicals' products are used in a wide variety of applications, including food and electronics packaging, industrial materials, appliances and a variety of consumer goods. The company operates two business units and holds a 50% interest in a major joint venture with INEOS, called INEOS NOVA.

Company history

In 1954, the Alberta legislature under Ernest Manning passed the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company Act, creating the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company (AGTL) Crown Corporation, with a monopoly on natural gas transportation (pipelines) within the province. [3] Construction began in 1956 and gas began flowing in 1957. [3] In the 1970s, AGTL expanded into the chemicals industry. [4] The company was privatized in 1961 and was renamed NOVA Corporation in 1980, [5] [6] [7] and by 1989 was considered a "petrochemical and pipeline giant." [8]

In the 1980s, NOVA had controlling ownership of Calgary-based Husky Oil. [9] :198 NOVA sold the last of its stake in Husky in 1991. [10]

In 1998, NOVA Corporation split in two, with its pipeline business (with $11 billion in annual sales) [11] merging with TransCanada Pipelines and its chemicals business ($2.4 billion sales) [11] becoming a publicly traded company, NOVA Chemicals. [12] [13] [6] Shortly after the split, then-CEO Jeffrey Lipton moved NOVA Chemicals' head office from Calgary to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [6] While this move was made in order to be closer to US customers, the benefits of the move never materialized. It was also seen as a snub to the province of Alberta, as Premier Ed Stelmach refused to grant NOVA Chemicals a bailout in 2009 due to the financial meltdown and recession, as well as the company's heavy debt load. [6]

On July 6, 2009, the International Petroleum Investment Company (since 2016 IPIC merged with Mubadala), which is wholly owned by the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, completed the 100% purchase of NOVA Chemicals, and transferred its place of incorporation to the Province of New Brunswick. [14] [15]

In the United States, NOVA Chemicals has focused recent expansion in the Gulf Coast area. This includes acquiring an olefins plant that produces roughly 1.95 billion pounds of ethylene annually in Geismar, Louisiana, which was purchased from Williams Partners. [16] In December 2022 the company completed construction of a new polyethylene plant in St. Clair Township. [17]

Operations

The Olefins/Polyolefins

The Olefins/Polyolefins business unit produces and sells ethylene, PE resins and co-products from its two manufacturing centers located in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. The business is built on its feedstock cost advantage in Alberta, world-scale and energy-efficient manufacturing facilities and proprietary Advanced SCLAIRTECH and gas-phase polyethylene technology.

The Olefins/Polyolefins business unit contains three reporting segments:

Leadership

Chairman of the BoardPresident

Robert J. Dinning, 1955–1963
vacant, 1963–1966
John C. Mayne, 1966–1974
H. J. Sanders Pearson, 1974–1985
S. Robert Blair, 1985–1991
Daryl K. Seaman, 1991–1992
Richard F. Haskayne, 1992–1998
J. Edward Newall, 1998–2007
James M. Stanford, 2007–2009
Khadem A. al-Qubaisi, 2009–2015
Suhail M. Al Mazrouei, 2015–2020
Musabbeh Al Kaabi, 2020–2021
Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, 2021–

Ralph F. Will, 1954–1956
Vernon Taylor, 1956–1958
Alex G. Bailey, 1958–1966
James C. Mahaffy, 1966–1970
S. Robert Blair, 1970–1986
Robert L. Pierce, 1986–1988
James H. Butler, 1988–1990
vacant, 1990–1991
J. Edward Newall, 1991–1998
Jeffrey M. Lipton, 1998–2008
Christopher D. Pappas, 2008–2009
Randy G. Woelfel, 2009–2014
Todd D. Karran, 2015–2020
Luis M. Sierra, 2020–2022
Danny Dweik, 2022–2023
Roger L. Kearns, 2023–

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petrochemical</span> Chemical product derived from petroleum

Petrochemicals are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit or sugar cane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillips Petroleum Company</span> American oil company, predecessor of ConocoPhillips

Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the North Sea on December 23, 1969, at a position that was later named Ekofisk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LyondellBasell</span> Netherlands-incorporated chemical company

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is an American multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. LBI produces ethylene, propylene, polyolefins, and oxyfuels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. Robert Blair</span> Canadian engineer and businessman.

Sidney Robert "Bob" Blair was a Canadian oilman. During a career that spanned from 1951 to 1991, Blair played a major role in the development of the Alberta petroleum industry. In 1970 he was appointed president of the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company Limited, a position he held until 1986. Over the course of his presidency, he transformed AGTL/NOVA from a provincial transmission utility into a diversified energy and chemicals giant. Blair was a vocal economic nationalist who spent much of his career working to develop Canadian-owned industry, often putting himself in conflict with Canada's foreign-owned majors. He is also remembered for leading the unsuccessful attempt to build the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SABIC</span> Saudi chemicals company

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, known as SABIC, is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial polymers, fertilizers, and metals. It is the second largest public company in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul.

A polyolefin is a type of polymer with the general formula (CH2CHR)n where R is an alkyl group. They are usually derived from a small set of simple olefins (alkenes). Dominant in a commercial sense are polyethylene and polypropylene. More specialized polyolefins include polyisobutylene and polymethylpentene. They are all colorless or white oils or solids. Many copolymers are known, such as polybutene, which derives from a mixture of different butene isomers. The name of each polyolefin indicates the olefin from which it is prepared; for example, polyethylene is derived from ethylene, and polymethylpentene is derived from 4-methyl-1-pentene. Polyolefins are not olefins themselves because the double bond of each olefin monomer is opened in order to form the polymer. Monomers having more than one double bond such as butadiene and isoprene yield polymers that contain double bonds (polybutadiene and polyisoprene) and are usually not considered polyolefins. Polyolefins are the foundations of many chemical industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straight-chain terminal alkene</span>

Straight-chain terminal alkenes, also called linear alpha olefins (LAO) or normal alpha olefins (NAO), are alkenes (olefins) having a chemical formula CnH2n, distinguished from other alkenes with a similar molecular formula by being terminal alkenes, in which the double bond occurs at the alpha position, and by having a linear (unbranched) hydrocarbon chain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ineos</span> Privately owned multinational chemicals company

Ineos Group Limited is a British multinational conglomerate headquartered and registered in London. As of 2021, it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world, with additional operations in fuel, packaging and food, construction, automotive, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and professional sports. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own board and operating almost entirely independently, although founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who owns a controlling interest, and his associates, who collectively own a minority share, sit on their boards occasionally.

Richard Francis "Dick" Haskayne is a Canadian retired accountant and oilman whose career spanned from 1956 to 2005. Haskayne served as the president and chairman of several major Canadian petroleum companies including Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company, Home Oil Company, Interprovincial Pipeline Company, Nova Corporation, and TransCanada Pipelines. He is also known for his association with the University of Calgary, whose management faculty was renamed the Haskayne School of Business in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum industry in Canada</span>

Petroleum production in Canada is a major industry which is important to the overall economy of North America. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world and is the world's fourth largest oil producer and fourth largest oil exporter. In 2019 it produced an average of 750,000 cubic metres per day (4.7 Mbbl/d) of crude oil and equivalent. Of that amount, 64% was upgraded from unconventional oil sands, and the remainder light crude oil, heavy crude oil and natural-gas condensate. Most of the Canadian petroleum production is exported, approximately 600,000 cubic metres per day (3.8 Mbbl/d) in 2019, with 98% of the exports going to the United States. Canada is by far the largest single source of oil imports to the United States, providing 43% of US crude oil imports in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Petrochemical Company</span>

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC), a subsidiary to the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, is owned by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible for the development and operation of the country's petrochemical sector. Founded in 1964, NPC began its activities by operating a small fertilizer plant in Shiraz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the petroleum industry in Canada (natural gas liquids)</span>

Canada's natural gas liquids industry dates back to the discovery of wet natural gas at Turner Valley, Alberta in 1914. The gas was less important than the natural gasoline - "skunk gas" it was called, because of its distinctive odour - that early producers extracted from it. That natural gas liquid (NGL) could be poured directly into an automobile's fuel tank.

Borealis AG is an Austrian chemical company and is the world's eighth largest producer of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian petroleum companies</span>

Although there are numerous oil companies operating in Canada, as of 2009, the majority of production, refining and marketing was done by fewer than 20 of them. According to the 2013 edition of Forbes Global 2000, canoils.com and any other list that emphasizes market capitalization and revenue when sizing up companies, as of March 31, 2014 these are the largest Canada-based oil and gas companies.

SIBUR is a Russian petrochemicals company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Moscow.

Pembina Pipeline is a Canadian corporation that operates transportation and storage infrastructure delivering oil and natural gas to and from parts of Western Canada ; there is also a natural gas processing business that takes place at the Cutbank Complex. Western Canada is the source of all the product transported by its systems. Some of the pipelines and facilities have short term contracts with oil producers while others are long term. For 37 years until 1997 when it went public and established itself as a trust, Pembina was a regular privately owned business. On October 1, 2010 it converted to a corporation from a trust, changing its official name from Pembina Pipeline Income Fund to Pembina Pipeline Corporation. As of 2016 the company had more than 1260 employees, up from 427 in 2010. The company's total assets nearly doubled in 2017.

Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Sdn Bhd engages in the ownership and operation of polypropylene plants, polyethylene plants, ethylene crackers, and aromatic plants. It offers high-density polyethylene (HDPE), Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) for various kinds of applications, room household goods to automotives products. The company also manufactures low-density polyethylene for injection molding for cosmetic containers, bottle closures, and food containers, and is based in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia.

Westlake Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated building products, which are fundamental to various consumer and industrial markets. The company was founded by Ting Tsung Chao in 1986. it is the largest producer of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) in the US and ranks among the Forbes Global 2000. Westlake Chemical operates in two segments: Olefins and Vinyls, and is also an integrated producer of vinyls, with substantial downstream integration into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) building products.

Cedar Bayou plant is a petrochemical manufacturing facility located in Baytown, Texas. It is the largest U.S. manufacturing facility of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. The plant operates seven process units on approximately 1,400 acres producing Ethylene, Propylene, Normal Alpha Olefins (NAO), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), and Polyalphaolefins. Cedar Bayou plant opened in 1963 as Gulf Oil and was sold to Chevron Corp. in 1985. In 2000, Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66 merged their chemical businesses to form Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Formosa Petrochemical Corporation is a Taiwanese energy company engaged in refining of crude oil, distribution of refined petroleum products, the production and sales of olefins, and the generation of electricity and steam. It was founded as a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, and went public in 2003. It is headquartered in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County, in Taiwan.

References

  1. "Selected Financial Information" . Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  2. "Corporate Fact Sheet" (PDF). Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Alberta Gas Trunk Line". Government of Alberta - Culture and Tourism. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  4. "Company with three Sarnia-Lambton plants privately held". The Observer. March 20, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  5. Jang, Brent (January 30, 2001). "Nova pays through the nose for Alberta natural gas". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Once-mighty Nova Chemicals needs rescuer". National Post. February 9, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  7. "Nova Corp". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  8. Demont, John (July 10, 1989). "Nova's sell-off". Maclean's. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  9. Doem, G. Bruce; Toner, Glen (1985). The Politics of Energy: The Development and Implementation of the NEP. Routledge. ISBN   9780429560583 . Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  10. Zuckerman, Lawrence (October 24, 1991). "Li to Lift Stake in Husky Oil to 95%". International Herald Tribune. New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Nova Chemicals to separate from parent". Chem. Eng. News. American Chemical Society. February 2, 1998. doi:10.1021/cen-v076n005.p009.
  12. "NOVA, TransCanada form $16 billion company". Pittsburgh Business Times. January 26, 1998. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  13. NOVA Chemicals history. Retrieved online 2011-09-28 Archived April 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Nova Chemicals: "Company History and Development"". Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  15. "IPIC to buy Nova Chemicals". Toronto Star. February 23, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  16. "Nova Chemicals expanding again on the Gulf Coast". The Observer. April 18, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  17. "Nova Chemicals completes construction of expansion in St. Clair Twp". December 28, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2023.