Nova Chemicals officials were at Queen's Park Wednesday trying to advance expansion plans in Sarnia-Lambton that could include a new polyethylene plant.
The Calgary-based company flew in its director of government relations, Ken Faulkner, to meet with Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli.
Nova has been in discussions with the government about the cost and reliability of power in Ontario.
Company spokesman Rob Thompson says, while Nova is still assessing the feasibility of a new world scale plant, the cost of power is a factor in deciding where to potentially locate it.
He says the US Gulf Coast is also in the running for the billion-dollar-plus investment.
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Thompson says a new plant would create up to 1,500 construction jobs over three years, as many as 150 full time jobs and create spin- off benefits for service industries and maintenance contractors.
Nova was spending over $300-million on Sarnia area projects in the next phase of its growth strategy extending to 2018.
Expansion plans are being driven by Nova's conversion to lower cost Marcellus Shale ethane feedstock at its Corunna plant.
