Shell Chemicals plans to extend the August shutdown of its its naphtha-fed steam cracker at Pulau Bukom, Singapore, to 40-45 days from around one month, sources close to the company said Thursday. The steam cracker, which is able to produce 800,000 mt/year of ethylene and 450,000 mt/year of propylene, is scheduled to shut around August 11. The cracker also supports a 155,000 mt/year butadiene unit.
The duration of the turnaround was likely extended to carry out further repairs, the sources added.
No comments were available from Shell.
The steam cracker is relatively new and was first brought on stream in March last year. After the startup, the cracker had been experiencing some technical problems, which caused several shutdowns in late 2010. In 2011, the cracker was shut down on February 21 for annual maintenance. The cracker was restarted on March 10, but it was immediately shut down again on March 18 due to unidentified problems. The cracker was restarted again around the middle of May.
