APIC ’11: Shell expands Singapore cracker capacity in three years

FUKUOKA, Japan (ICIS)--Shell Chemicals plans a 15-20% capacity expansion at its 800,000 tonne/year Singapore cracker  in three years, a company executive said on Friday.

The expansion work would take place during the first turnaround at the cracker, which was brought on stream last year, said Iain John Lo, vice president for new business development and ventures at Shell Chemicals.

The cracker in Bukom Island has recently restarted after nearly two months of shutdown caused by technical problems.

Options for making use of existing ethylene output are still under study and included both internal consumption and over-the-fence customers at Singapore’s Jurong Island petrochemicals complex, said Sven Royall, Shell Chemicals’ vice president for global intermediates.

Feedstock for the expansion would come from optimising rather than expanding Shell’s refinery capacity in Singapore, added Royall.

A modest downstream expansion at Shell Chemicals’ 750,000 tonne/year mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) plant at Jurong, Singapore, was a possibility, said Royall.

The MEG plant is integrated with the company’s cracker at Bukom Island.

Shell Chemicals was also focused on raising high-purity ethylene oxide (EO) production through brownfield debottleneckings, said Lo.

The debottleneckings are also due to take place in the three-year time frame and would serve downstream ethoxylates production in Singapore, he added.

Additional reporting by Tahir Ikram