Shell to restart Singapore refinery crude unit by Sept at earliest

Royal Dutch Shell will restart in September at the earliest a crude distillation unit (CDU) shut for maintenance at its 500,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Singapore, industry sources said on Wednesday.
Reuters reported on July 19 that Shell had shut in mid-July the No. 4 CDU at the Bukom island refinery, its biggest plant in the world, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The source has now clarified that the procedure of shutting down the unit began in mid-July, to be completed by the end of the month.
"They will most likely only restart the CDU in September," the source familiar with the matter added.
Shell could not immediately be reached for comment.
In addition, a gasoline-making unit, or reformer, a high vacuum unit and a hydrocracker were also shut.
The high vacuum unit is expected to restart towards the end of August, while the hydrocracker and the reformer will restart only after the No. 4 CDU resumes operation, the source added.
Shell has sold only one gasoil cargo in the Singapore trading period in August, down from three gasoil and jet fuel cargoes in July and 10 middle distillates cargoes in June, traders said.
The smaller number of spot barrels available for sale is a pointer to the work on the refinery, they added.
Shell operates two other CDUs, CDU 3 and CDU 5, at its 500,000 bpd refinery, which makes up more than a third of Singapore's capacity. CDU 3 has a capacity of 110,000 bpd while CDU 5 has a capacity of 210,000 bpd.
Source: Reuters