Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) reiterated that its ethylene plant at Pulau Bukom, Singapore, may only start up after the middle of this month. Shell shut the plant on March 18 because of technical problems, as per Bloomberg. “Our manufacturing and technology teams have been working round the clock and continue to work hard to determine the cause of the technical problems,” Shell said. “Repairs are being carried out with the utmost urgency to fix these technical problems.”
The European refiner declared force majeure on some chemical contracts from the plant because of unplanned operational issues on March 21. Force majeure is a legal clause allowing companies to miss deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control. The Singapore cracker complex has capacity to turn naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and heavy hydrocarbons into chemicals. It has an annual capacity to produce 800,000 tons of ethylene, 450,000 tons of propylene and 230,000 tons of benzene.
16-May-11 
{{comment.DateTimeStampDisplay}}
{{comment.Comments}}