Fire out at Singapore oil refinery

A fire that engulfed parts of Royal Dutch Shell's 500,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery in Singapore for two days has been extinguished, the company said.

With traces of fuel vapour still present, Shell said would it would continue to monitor the situation with the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

The blaze broke out at the refinery on Bukom, an island three miles off, on Wednesday.

It appeared to have been brought largely under control when it was rocked by new fireballs yesterday.

Several refining units were shut down and most staff evacuated, though there were no reports of injuries.

Shell said on its website that the fire had been put out.

Aside from utilities, it was prepared to shut down all refinery units if considered necessary from a safety perspective, the company said.

It was also monitoring the air quality around Bukom four times a day.

Singapore is one of the world's top three centres for the refining and export of oil and is Asia's main oil trading hub.

PA