Royal Dutch Shell PLC has restarted the ethylene cracker complex (ECC) at its Pulau Bukom manufacturing site on Bukom Island, Singapore, following a mid-October operational disruption at the recently expanded unit (OGJ Online, Oct. 16, 2015).
The force majeure on base chemical products from the site has been lifted, and the ECC is now running normally, Michael Marr, spokesman for Shell Chemical, told OGJ.
Shell declared a force majeure on base chemical production from the ECC on Oct. 14, the same day on which an unidentified upset resulted in flaring and the subsequent halt to operations at the complex.
The company did not disclose further details regarding the nature of the ECC upset or its ultimate impact to production at the site.
In April, Shell completed a debottlenecking and expansion project at the Bukom Island ECC that increased ethylene production capacity at the complex to more than 1 million tpy from its previous 800,000-tpy capacity (OGJ Online, Apr. 2, 2015).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
