Shell reports 'operational upset' at unit at Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore

[SINGAPORE] A unit at Royal Dutch Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery and petrochemical complex experienced an operational upset on Sunday, a company spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday.

"On July 14 at approximately 2pm, the Pulau Bukom manufacturing site experienced an operational upset at one of its units, which has resulted in flaring," she said.

"No injuries have been reported and the relevant authorities have been notified," she said, adding that the rest of the site's operations had not been affected.

It was not immediately clear which unit was down. The spokeswoman declined to provide details of the unit citing commercial confidentiality reasons.

The Pulau Bukom manufacturing site is an integrated refinery and chemicals site and can process up to 500,000 barrels per day of oil.

Bukom is Shell's largest wholly-owned refinery globally in terms of crude distillation capacity, according to the company website.

Typically, any unexpected outage at the refinery boosts margins for Asian oil products.

REUTERS