Shell to cut jobs, capacity at Singapore oil refinery, its largest globally

Shell to cut jobs, capacity at Singapore oil refinery, its largest globally

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Royal Dutch Shell is seen at a petrol station in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> will halve crude processing capacity and cut jobs at its Pulau Bukom oil refinery in Singapore as part of an overhaul to reduce the company's carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions to net zero by 2050, it said on Tuesday.

Pulau Bukom, located on a small island offshore the Southeast Asian city-state, can process 500,000 barrels per day of oil and is the largest wholly-owned Shell refinery globally.

Pulau Bukom will be one of six oil refining and petrochemical sites Shell will keep operating in Texas, Louisiana, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, down from 14.

"Bukom will pivot from a crude-oil, fuels-based product slate towards new low-carbon value chains. We will reduce our crude processing capacity by about half and aim to deliver a significant reduction in CO2 emissions," the company said in a statement.

The company will cut 500 jobs by the end of 2023 at the site, which now employs 1,300 staff, a Shell spokeswoman said.

"We will progressively make changes in our refinery configuration over the next three years," she said.

In September, Shell said it planned to cut up to 9,000 jobs globally, or over 10% of its workforce.

Shell has launched a broad review of its business aimed at cutting costs as it prepares to restructure its operations by shrinking its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division.