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The cracker has been in operation since early 2010
16/11/2012
Shell ups Singapore ethylene cracker capacity
Will increase production by more than 20%
Richard Jansen
SHELL CHEMICALS is to upgrade its ethylene cracker on Singapore’s Bukom Island, increasing its olefins and aromatics capacity by at least 20%.
The company has not revealed how much the expansion will cost, but says it will remove a bottleneck in production.
The cracker has been in operation since early 2010, and cost about US$1bn to build. It is a major component of the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) project – the company’s largest-ever petrochemicals investment – and supplies Shell’s 750,000 t/y mono-ethylene glycol plant on the nearby Jurong Island.
“Our Singapore ethylene cracker was designed with potential capacity expansion in mind,” says Ben van Beurden, executive vice president for Shell Chemicals. “The investment will generate additional volumes to help us meet growing demand from our customers in the region.”
