(BRUSSELS) - EU regulators approved on Tuesday a joint petrochemicals complex project between French oil group Total and Algerian state-owned gas giant Sonatrach.

The plant, based at Arzew in eastern Algeria, will be used for a process of breaking down ethane under high temperatures and weak pressure, to make ethylene and other derivatives for the national and international markets,

The European Commission announced it had given the three-billion-dollar (4.48 billion dollar) deal the green light under a "simplified" procedure reserved for cases which pose no obvious competition problems.

Total, announcing the deal last year, said it would finance 51 percent of the project and Sonatrach 49 percent.

The plant will make polyethylene, mono-ethylene, glycol, di-ethylene glycol and tri-ethylene from the methane extracted at the plant, according to Sonatrach.

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