Shell keeps to 2022 for Singapore base oil unit closure

Shell has kept unchanged the timing of the closure of its Group I base oil unit at its 500,000 b/d Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore, even with the company set to cut capacity from July.

The 380,000 t/yr Group I unit at the refinery remains scheduled to close in July 2022.

Shell will reduce capacity at the refinery by 200,000 b/d in July as part of long-term plans to cut its carbon emissions. It announced in November 2020 that it would reduce crude processing capacity at Bukom by around half. It did not give a specific timeline for the cuts at that time.

Group I base oil supplies in Asia-Pacific have been unusually tight over the past year because of a heavy round of planned, unexpected and extended plant shutdowns and run cuts throughout the region. Base oil prices have increased in response to the tightness.

By Iain Pocock