Royal Dutch Shell will cut jobs and reduce crude processing capacity at its Pulau Bukom refinery in Singapore as part of the company’s transition toward low-carbon energy. The 500,000 bpd refinery is the company’s largest wholly-owned refinery. After the repurposing, its crude processing refinery will be around 250,000 bpd. Shell also plans to lay off 500 workers at Pulau Bukom by the end of 2023. Shell’s Pulau Bukom refinery currently employs 1,300 staff.
The reorganization at Pulau Bukom adds Shell’s total refining capacity reductions in recent months to 571,000 bpd. As part of the transition, Shell plans to sell eight of its existing fourteen refineries. However, the company said it would shut them if it failed a buyer. Among facilities that Shell intends to keep are refineries in Texas, Louisiana, the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada. Meanwhile, Shell has announced the conversion of its refinery in the Philippines into a fuel import terminal. It will also shut a large refinery in Convent, Louisiana.
In a statement on Tuesday, Shell said that Pulau Bukom would shift toward low-carbon value chains. Shell will also explore possibilities to produce biofuels and bitumen at the site while looking for alternative feedstocks such as recycled chemicals. Shell’s Pulau Bukom complex has a capacity to produce up to 800,000 tons/year of ethylene. In Singapore, Shell said it would build electric vehicle charging outlets, increase its solar power generation, study plastic waste recycling, and offer carbon-neutral solutions for its customers.
