Total Petrochemical has pushed back to 2018 its final investment decisions on building a 1 million mt/year steam cracker in Port Arthur, according to S&P Global Platts energy news service.

Total, based in France, continues to work with Canada’s NOVA Chemicals and Austria’s Borealis to finalize agreements on the project, Platts reported last week.

In a story by spglobal.com’s Kristen Hays, Platts reported, “Ethylene from the cracker would feed a 625,000 mt/year polyethylene plant to be operated by NOVA and Borealis about 77 miles west, near the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel and next to Total’s existing 400,000 mt/year PE plant.

Media reports last March said the project, suggested to reflect a $1.7 billion investment, would provide a base ingredient for plastics from natural gas. The company would receive a variety of steep tax discounts from local governments, including from the city of Port Arthur and from the Port Neches-Groves schools.

In a news release from Paris last March, Total said it would hold a 50 percent interest in the project, which was tentatively scheduled for a 2020 start-up. The project would create about 1,500 jobs during peak construction, the company said.

The project would be built at Total’s Port Arthur Refinery, the company said.