Shell to invest in 20% expansion of Jurong Island ethylene cracker

19-Nov-12

Shell is expanding its upstream ethylene cracker that is core to its US$3 bln Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) in Jurong Island in SIngapore - to ramp up production of olefins and aromatics by over 20% to meet in-house needs as well as the needs of customers, as per news.asiaone.com. No investment sum was cited, but the debottlenecking of the cracker will boost its production of petrochemicals like ethylene, propylene and benzene to 1 mln tpa from the current 800,000 tpa. Capacity-wise, this will bring it on a par with ExxonMobil's new US$1 bln-plus, one million tpa second cracker in Jurong, which will start up any time now. The cracker is part of the US oil giant's second US$5-6 bln petrochemical complex here.