BP and Nova Chemicals combined capacity will be 1.3 million tpa of PS and EPS

BP and Nova Chemicals are to merge their styrene polymer interests across Europe in a new joint venture to be headquartered in Switzerland.

The deal, announced this morning, will create a business with 900 employees covering seven plants. Production capacity will be 720,000tpa of polystyrene and 415,000tpa of EPS.

Nova’s North American styrenics business and BP’s interest in the Secco styrenics venture in China are not included in the merger. The deal requires a number of regulatory approvals and is intended to take effect early next year.

Ownership of BP’s share in the unnamed company will pass to the new business to be formed from the company’s Olefins and Derivatives business next year.

Ralph Alexander, chief executive of BP Olefins and Derivatives, said: “Our combined customer base will see better product and geographic coverage and greater scale leading to improved service.”