Two Firms Invest In Singapore

Shell will build two plants in Singapore that will increase the company’s already considerable presence in the island state. Shell plans a 140,000-metric-ton-per-year high-purity ethylene oxide plant and two ethoxylation plants with a combined capacity of 140,000 metric tons. At a press conference to discuss the investment, Shell officials disclosed that the Singapore government strongly encouraged the projects as a means of attracting downstream users to Singapore. Indeed, two days earlier Solvay announced it will build a specialty surfactant plant in Singapore that will consume high-purity ethylene oxide supplied by Shell. Solvay says the alkoxylation unit will serve Asian producers of home and personal care products, coatings, agrochemicals, and chemicals used in the oil and gas industry. The company expects it to open in 2015. Shell is in the midst of a major expansion in Singapore. The firm will boost the capacity of its newest ethylene cracker there by 20%, and it announced in February that it will increase polyols capacity.