Royal Dutch Shell resumed tanker berthing operations at its Singapore refinery this morning more than 48 hours after putting out a fire at the plant, a shipping source said on Sunday, Reuters reports. The 500,000-barrels-per-day (bpd)refinery, Shell's largest processing plant globally, is expected to be shut for at least a month, industry sources had said.
"We started (berthing) this morning," said the source familiar with operations at the Shell terminal.
On Friday, at least two buyers said they had received a notice from the oil major that it was declaring force majeure on all its nominated sales for cargoes to be lifted from the Singapore Bukom refinery.
The note titled 'Notice of Force Majeure' said: "In the circumstances we have no alternative but to formally declare that our ability to supply the product under the contract has been adversely affected by an event beyond our control."
Shell was not immediately available for comment but in a statement issued on Oct 1, the company said: "Efforts are proceeding to further secure the site of the fire to allow investigations to commence safely and bring the situation back to normal at the refinery."
"Discussions are ongoing with customers to address the supply of products and to minimise any potential impact to them."
"We started (berthing) this morning," said the source familiar with operations at the Shell terminal.
On Friday, at least two buyers said they had received a notice from the oil major that it was declaring force majeure on all its nominated sales for cargoes to be lifted from the Singapore Bukom refinery.
The note titled 'Notice of Force Majeure' said: "In the circumstances we have no alternative but to formally declare that our ability to supply the product under the contract has been adversely affected by an event beyond our control."
Shell was not immediately available for comment but in a statement issued on Oct 1, the company said: "Efforts are proceeding to further secure the site of the fire to allow investigations to commence safely and bring the situation back to normal at the refinery."
"Discussions are ongoing with customers to address the supply of products and to minimise any potential impact to them."