Singapore's Aster to restart revamped splitter unit in November, sources say
More than 1 million condensate barrels discharged in Bukom, data shows First full-sized Northwest Shelf condensate part of the mix Work on single buoy mooring facility likely to conclude by year-end By Trixie Yap SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) — Singapore's Aster Chemicals and Energy imported condensate this month as it targets a November restart of its revamped condensate splitter on Bukom island to turn out more refined fuels, said four sources briefed on the matter. Meanwhile, repairs at the company's single buoy mooring system (SBM) are likely to be completed by year-end, government notices showed, which will allow the refiner to import crude using larger tankers for economies of scale. The condensate splitter, which processes the ultra light oil mainly to petrochemical feedstock naphtha, could allow Aster to reduce its feedstock buying costs as the Middle East and Ukraine wars have tightened global supplies of fuel. Aster has bought via Glencore at least 1 million barrels of Australian condensate that arrived at the refinery in early October, two of the four sources said. It has also purchased at least one more cargo for November arrival, a fifth source said. About 650,000 barrel
More than 1 million condensate barrels discharged in Bukom, data shows First full-sized Northwest Shelf condensate part of the mix Work on single buoy mooring facility likely to conclude by year-end By Trixie Yap SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) — Singapore's Aster Chemicals and Energy imported condensate this month as it targets a November restart of its revamped condensate splitter on Bukom island to turn out more refined fuels, said four sources briefed on the matter.
Meanwhile, repairs at the company's single buoy mooring system (SBM) are likely to be completed by year-end, government notices showed, which will allow the refiner to import crude using larger tankers for economies of scale. The condensate splitter, which processes the ultra light oil mainly to petrochemical feedstock naphtha, could allow Aster to reduce its feedstock buying costs as the Middle East and Ukraine wars have tightened global supplies of fuel. Aster has bought via Glencore at least 1 million barrels of Australian condensate that arrived at the refinery in early October, two of the four sources said.
It has also purchased at least one more cargo for November arrival, a fifth source said. About 650,000 barrels of Northwest Shelf (NWS) condensate aboard tanker Pis Rinjani and 570,000 barrels of Ichthys condensate on tanker Torm Helene discharged at Bukom last week, shipping data from Kpler, Vortexa and one trade source showed. It was the first full-sized NWS cargo to arrive at Bukom since 2015, Kpler data showed. The sources sought anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
Aster declined to comment on the status of the projects, citing commercial confidentiality. Glencore declined to comment. Aster took full ownership last year of the splitter, which has a nameplate capacity of about 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). The unit has not been operational in the past decade.
The refiner's SBM facility is undergoing "reinstatement works" until November 30, with seabed repair work at the SBM pipeline expected to run until December 21, Singapore's Maritime Port Authority said in a notice on its website. No very large crude carrier has berthed at Bukom Island since December 2022, shiptracking data from Kpler showed. Aster had earlier planned for the units to be brought online in the second half of the year, A joint venture between Indonesia's Chandra Asri and Glencore, the firm took over the Bukom and Jurong Island refining and petrochemical sites in April last year. com;)