Shell Singapore plant divestiture delayed completion

       On May 8 this year, Shell announced the sale of its physical assets and commercial contracts in Singapore to CAPGC, a joint venture in which Chandra Asri holds a majority stake and Glencore holds a minority stake, for an undisclosed transaction. The deal was originally planned to close by the end of 2024, but a Shell spokesman said that due to the transaction subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, the expected completion of the transaction has been postponed to the first quarter of next year.

      According to market sources, a new CAPGC entity called Aster Chemicals and Energy will be responsible for operating the Singapore facility and handling its crude oil procurement and fuel sales. Shell Singapore's Energy and Chemical Park (SECP) includes its refining and chemical integration assets on Wakong Island, which includes a 237000-barrel/day refinery and a 1.1 million-ton/year ethylene cracker, and Jurong Island, which includes a plant producing monoethylene glycol. Chandra Asri said its move to acquire SECP assets was in line with its "go global" growth strategy, as it seeks overseas expansion in the energy, chemicals and infrastructure sectors.

      The of assets in Singapore will increase Chandra Asri's overall capacity from around 4.2 million t/a today to more than 18 million t/a in 2026, in addition to the acquisition of Shell's Singapore plant will provide naphtha feedstock for Asri's cracking unit in Chandra and enable the company to combine its petrochemical production with refining, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Chandra Asri operates Indonesia's only naphtha cracking unit, which can produce 900000 tons of ethylene and 490000 tons of propylene per year. These basic raw materials are further processed into other petrochemical products in the complex.