‘Business as usual’ officials tell St. Clair’s mayor

Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar has been assured it will be business as usual after the sale of NOVA Chemicals. 

And local economic development officials hope this will lead to more investment in Lambton County in the long term.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has purchased the polyolefins producer with a huge presence in Lambton County for $13.4 billion according to a news release. ADNOC is also working with OMV Aktiengesellschaft to combine their companies Borouge and Borealis into one entity – Borouge Group International – which will be the owner of NOVA, making it the world’s fourth-largest polyolefins player.

News releases issued by the companies did not say what the impact on the workforce would be with the formation of the petrochemical giant. Agar spoke with the new plant manager Tuesday. 

“He said nothing’s going to change, like it’ll still stay NOVA,” the mayor said after the conversation.

“And there sounds like it might just be a little bit more to add to it.

“They’re a pretty big player in the field, so I’m pretty excited about it.”

The stability of NOVA is important to the municipality. The company’s four plants are within its borders making it the largest taxpayer in St. Clair.

Lambton economic development officials are also voicing optimism in the wake of the sale of NOVA.

Matthew Slotwinski, the president of Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership is looking forward to the opportunities ahead.

“NOVA Chemicals has been internationally owned now for a considerable period of time. What this does is allow the company that is purchasing NOVA Chemicals and its assets to gain access into the North American market, and from a international strategic standpoint, that makes sense, especially with what’s going on from an international trade perspective right now,” he says.

NOVA has operations in four North American communities – four in St. Clair Township, one in Joffre, Alberta, one near Pittsburgh and the other in Indiana. NOVA recently completed a $2.5 billion investment in two of its St. Clair operations, increasing capacity at the Corunna cracker unit by 50 per cent and building a new polyethylene production unit on Rokeby Line. Slotwinski says that investment likely made NOVA more attractive to the buyers.

“When I look at this with the limited information that I have, through the lens of the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership, I see no reason to be concerned for the assets or employment associated with the four NOVA Chemical operations in Lambton County,” Slotwinski says.

“We hope to work with the new ownership crew as it develops and we’re able to form relationships with the hope of continuing long-term stability and success of those operations and hopefully driving new investments or reinvestment,” Slotwinski says.