French oil and gas major Total SA (NYSE: TOT) said March 27 it aims to become a major player in the U.S. polyethylene market as it announced a $1.7 billion joint venture (JV) with Austria's Borealis Exploration Ltd. and Canada's Nova Chemical Corp.

The new venture plans to build a 1 million tonne per year ethane steam cracker in Port Arthur, Texas. In addition, the JV is considering building a 625,000 tonnes per year polyethylene unit at Total's Bayport site, also on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Total will hold a 50% stake in the JV and the new cracker, which will be built alongside Total's Port Arthur refinery and Total/BASF SE's existing steam cracker, is scheduled to start in 2020, the company said.

"By joining forces with Borealis and Nova, we aim to create a major player in the US polyethylene market," Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.

Total said it expects the JV to be established in late 2017 and a final investment decision on the polyethylene unit will be taken simultaneously by the JV partners.