Shell on track for new EO, ethoxylates units in Singapore

(recasts leads, add details on new ethylene oxide and ethoxylates expansion project and polyols expansion project)

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Shell’s plan to expand its high-purity ethylene oxide and ethoxylates production capacity in Singapore is current progressing as planned following the completion of a debottlenecking project at its cracker on Bukom Island, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

The energy major is building a high-purity ethylene oxide (HPEO) purification column with an initial capacity of 140,000 tonne/year and two world-scale ethoxylation units with a combined capacity of 140,000 tonnes/year on Jurong Island in Singapore.

“The projects are progressing well. In keeping with our disclosure policy, we cannot provide further details with respect to the work,” the spokesperson said.

The high-purity ethylene oxide and ethoxylates project was first announced in April 2013.

The company on Thursday announced that it has completed the expansion project at its cracker on Bukom Island in Singapore which has boosted its ethylene production by more than 20%.

The ethylene cracker was opened in March 2010 and had 800,000 tonnes/year of capacity prior to the debottlenecking project that was announced in November 2012.

The company did not disclose financial details of the expansion project.

“The additional supply of products supports the expansion of intermediates plants on nearby Jurong Island, including Shell’s world-scale monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant and third-party facilities,” the company said in a statement.

Products from the ethylene cracker complex on Bukom are sent via an undersea pipeline to nearby Jurong Island where they are further converted into intermediate chemicals, it said.

The cracker complex is part of the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) project – Shell Chemicals’ largest investment to date, according to the company.

SEPC is integrated with the Shell Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site and its 750,000 tonnes/year MEG plant on the nearby Jurong Island, it said.

The SEPC can also produce 155,000 tonnes/year of butadiene (BD), 450,000 tonnes/year of propylene and 230,000 tonnes/year of benzene, according to Shell’s website.

The company previously completed a polyols expansion project at Jurong Island in April last year which began operations in the same month.

Employing Shell’s proprietary technology, this project increases the site’s existing polyols capacity by more than 100,000 tonnes/year and adds new grades to Shell’s product slate.

“The additional volume and grades will enable us to meet customer demand growth from key markets in Asia, particularly China,” the Shell spokesperson added.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections