Texas is launching a $1.7 billion (£1.3bn) petrochemical joint venture in Texas as it wants to profit from the “business-friendly environment” in the US.

It plans to build a one million ton per year ethane steam cracker in Port Arthur and a new polyethylene unit on the US Gulf Coast – chemicals used for plastics and other materials.

The joint venture with Borealis and Nova is expected to be established in late 2017, with the new facility scheduled to start up in 2020.

Total says the project will create around 1,500 jobs during peak engineering and construction activity.

It adds the abundance of available gas in the US as a result of the shale revolution provides two competitive advantages for petrochemicals: access to low cost energy to run the facilities and competitively priced ethane feedstock.

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total said: “After significant investments in US LNG and US shale gas in 2016, this almost $2 billion investment signals our determination to strengthen our presence in the US, where we have operated for 60 years and have more than 6,000 employees.

“We want to take advantage of the business-friendly environment to contribute to making American petrochemicals even greater. By joining forces with Borealis and Nova, we aim to create a major player in the US polyethylene market.”