Shell completes Singapore refinery sale to Chandra Asri-Glencore venture

SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) - Shell SHEL.L has completed the sale of its Singapore refinery and refining assets to a Chandra Asri-Glencore joint venture, the company said on Tuesday, and trade sources said the new owners had already started purchasing feedstock.

Last year, Shell announced the sale of its Bukom and Jurong islands facility, which dates back to 1961. The deal makes Indonesia-based Chandra Asri, the majority owner of the joint venture, one of Southeast Asia's largest petrochemicals players.

The financial terms of the deal, which was previously meant to close at the end of 2024, have not been disclosed.

Shell said that its staff at the site will remain with the new venture, Aster Chemicals and Energy Pte Ltd.

Office-based staff at the new venture relocated to Aster's premises on Tuesday, an Aster spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Chandra Asri has made several open-spec naphtha purchases for Singapore arrivals starting in March as it took charge of Aster's petrochemicals feedstock procurement, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

"Aster actively evaluates competitive opportunities for feedstock procurement subject to prevailing market conditions," the spokesperson added.

Under Shell, the Jurong Island chemicals site imported around 1.5 million metric tons per year of naphtha in 2023 and 2024, shiptracking data from Kpler showed.

Meanwhile, Swiss trading giant Glencore has made several crude purchases for May and June arrival into Singapore, including from Canada and Kazakhstan, two sources familiar with the purchases said.

Canada-origin crude has rarely, if ever, previously been bound for Singapore, with no such volumes recorded in shiptracking data from Kpler and LSEG dating from 2013 and 2017, respectively.

Glencore did not immediately respond to a Reuters query for comment, while Shell said that the company had signed crude supply and products offtake agreements that will come into effect following the completion of the sale.