Shell shuts FCC unit at Singapore refinery

Royal Dutch Shell Plc unexpectedly shut a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 500,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Singapore refinery, and is currently restarting the unit, trading sources said on Monday. The restart process of the 33,000 bpd FCC unit was expected to be completed soon, one of the sources said. The reason for the outage was not clear, but a power failure could likely have caused it, leading to the flaring of gases at the unit, a second source said. Black smoke was seen emerging from the site, traders added. The flame and smoke that were visible were from the refinery’s flare system, a Shell spokeswoman said in an email. We confirm that the flare system and fire alarm were activated this morning. A disruption at one of the units activated the fire alarm, which was quickly resolved, the spokeswoman added. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call at 10 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) about a fire alarm on Pulau Bukom, where the Shell refinery is located. SCDF resources were dispatched. However our services were not required as the incident was already resolved prior to our arrival, the SCDF said in an e-mailed statement.