Shell boosts ethylene production by 20 pct from Singapore plant

Reuters 2 Apr 15;

SINGAPORE, April 2 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell has finished upgrading its Singapore ethylene cracker complex at its integrated refining-chemicals site, boosting production of ethylene by 20 percent, the company said on Thursday.

The cracker on Bukom Island, which also houses Shell's 500,000 barrels-per-day refinery, originally had a capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of ethylene.

The additional supply of products will support the expansion of intermediate plants on the nearby Jurong Island, including Shell's mono-ethylene glycol plant and third-party facilities, the company said in a statement.

The cracker uses a range of feedstock, including naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to produce ethylene, a building block for plastics. (Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)