Shell shutters Singapore ethylene complex for unplanned maintenance

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has initiated a maintenance shutdown of the ethylene cracking complex (ECC) at its Pulau Bukom manufacturing site on Bukom Island, Singapore, to execute work intended to stop accelerated external corrosion at the unit (OGJ Online, Apr. 2, 2015).

While Shell continues to assess the situation and conduct ongoing inspections during the maintenance period, the company has declared a force majeure on base chemical products from Singapore, Oliver Tabbert, a spokesman for Shell, told OGJ via e-mail.

The company, however, is working with customers on alternate sources of supply to minimize potential impacts as a result of the maintenance closure, Tabbert said.

Timeframes for the lengths of the maintenance shutdown and force majeure were not disclosed.

Shell previously shuttered the Singapore ECC and declared force majeure on products from Pulau Bukom for several days in mid-October after an unidentified operational upset at the plant (OGJ Online, Oct. 19, 2015; Oct. 16, 2015).

Following a debottlenecking and expansion project completed earlier in the year, the Singapore ECC has an ethylene production capacity of more than 1 million tonnes/year.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].