PARIS, FRANCE/SINGAPORE: Shell announced new investments at its Singapore site that will add to its portfolio of world-class manufacturing facilities and boost its chemicals footprint in Asia. The company has taken a final investment decision to build new petrochemicals production units on Jurong Island to supply customers in the region.
The new investments will be built over some 35,000 square metre of land. It will include a high-purity ethylene oxide (HPEO) purification column with an initial capacity of 140,000 tonne per annum (tpa) and two world-scale ethoxylation units with a combined capacity of 140,000 tpa.
“The demand for alcohol ethoxylates in Asia is expected to increase at approximately 6-7 per cent annually over the next five years. The key driver for this is the move by consumers from laundry powder and soap bars to liquid detergent and liquid soaps, especially in major markets like China, India and South-east Asia. Shell is one of a few global suppliers of HPEO and alcohol ethoxylates - we are expanding to meet the growing needs of our existing and new customers,” said Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President, Shell Chemicals.
“These new investments build on the ones that we have announced in the last six months, which included the upgrading of our polyols plant and the debottlenecking of our petrochemical cracker on Pulau Bukom. They underscore our global strategy to continue investing in our existing assets, which is vital for our long-term growth, particularly in the expanding Asian petrochemicals market. They also showcase our ability to derive maximum value from the integration of Shell’s oil and chemical businesses,” added Graham van’t Hoff.
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