SINGAPORE - Shell Singapore announced on Thursday that it has finished upgrading its ethylene cracker complex on Bukom Island, boosting production of ethylene by more than 20 per cent.

The cracker on Bukom Island, home to Shell's largest fully-owned refinery, originally had a capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of ethylene.

The additional supply of products will support the expansion of intermediate plants on the nearby Jurong Island, including Shell's mono-ethylene glycol plant and third-party facilities, Shell said in a statement.

The upgrading of the ethylene cracker has also reduced its energy consumption by about 7 per cent and CO2 emissions by 11 per cent, Shell said.

Its products are sent via an undersea pipeline to nearby Jurong Island, Singapore's chemical hub. They are further converted into intermediate chemicals and used to make a range of everyday products, from paints, washing liquids, pillows, to plastic bottles, cars and computers.