Royal Dutch Shell has planned a maintenance shutdown at its 800,000 tpa ethylene cracker in Bukom Island, Singapore. The month-long planned maintenance will start around mid February as per Reuters. The cracker was commissioned in March 2010, but it has been hit by occasional operating problems, which traders say is typical of any new units. The shutdown may have limited impact on its naphtha demand, as the cracker is estimated to be using heavy oil as feedstock. The cracker is not fully reliant on light fuel naphtha, as it is designed to use a range of feedstock including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and heavy liquid hydrocarbons such as hydrowax. Shell is one of the 12-13 other petrochemical producers in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia that will shut its cracking unit for maintenance this year.
12-Jan-11 
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