Royal Dutch Shell Plc declared force majeure, exempting it from fulfilling contracts, as it halts units at its largest oil refinery after the worst fire at the Singapore plant in 23 years.

"Force majeure has been declared on some of our customers," the company said in a statement yesterday, citing Lee Tzu Yang, Shell's chairman in Singapore. The legal clause allows the company to miss scheduled deliveries because of circumstances beyond its control. Company spokeswoman Serene Loo declined to specify how many customers are affected or how long the measure will be in place.

Singapore is Asia's largest oil-trading, refining and storage center, with supply dominated by Shell's 500,000 barrel- a-day Pulau Bukom plant and facilities operated by Exxon Mobil Corp. Shell shut units after the fire started on the island, 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) from Singapore's financial center, on Sept. 28. The shutdown continued as a safety precaution after the blaze was extinguished on Sept. 29, it said.

"The cost is mainly Shell's loss of sales," said Ong Eng Tong, a consultant at Hamburg-based oil trader Mabanaft BV in Singapore. "Middle distillate cracks will be more affected than the rest because it's the start of the heating season. Because of the psychological effect of the refinery shutdown, people will think there's a shortage."

Diesel Crack Gains

The fire led to a diesel-producing hydrocracker at the 50- year-old refinery being closed, boosting regional fuel prices. Gasoil, or diesel, traded at the highest in more than four weeks against Dubai crude today. Swaps for October were at $18.37 a barrel over the Asian benchmark crude, the biggest premium since Sept. 1, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a London-based broker. This crack spread was $16.22 before the unit was shut.

Shell is buying diesel and gasoline cargoes in Singapore's spot market, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders monitoring cargo transactions. It had purchased 100,000 barrels of 95-RON gasoline from BP Plc and 150,000 barrels of ultra-low- sulfur diesel from Hin Leong Trading Pte. as of Oct 1.

Shell has started an investigation to find the cause of the blaze, it said in a statement on its website yesterday. Damage was contained to the vicinity of the pump house, in an area 50 meters by 150 meters, it said.

There are still traces of fuel vapor in the air, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said in an e-mailed statement dated yesterday. About 50 firefighters remained on the island, while 50 returned to the mainland. The SCDF has handed management of the site of the fire to Shell, it said.

Ethylene, Gasoline

The Pulau Bukom facility also houses an 800,000 metric ton- a-year ethylene plant, a 155,000 ton-a-year butadiene-extraction unit, and a fluid catalytic cracker that makes gasoline, according to Shell's website. The plant exports 90 percent of its products to the Asia-Pacific.

A Malaysian contractor was killed in a fire at the plant on Sept. 29, 1988, National Library archives showed. Shell has operated in Singapore for about 120 years.

The company has additional production facilities on neighboring Jurong Island, where refineries belonging to Exxon Mobil and Singapore Refining Co., a joint venture between Chevron Corp. and Singapore Petroleum Co., are located. Exxon was ordered to stop work for a day at another Singapore refinery in March after a 34-year-old worker was killed during plant maintenance.

A SINGAPORE medical student has been reported missing in Athens, Greece, a week after he flew there alone to attend a medical conference.
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Mr Kouk Leong Jin, 28, a student at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, arrived safely in Greece last Monday, but was uncontactable from Tuesday night.

He reportedly did not attend the three-day conference which began on Wednesday. He has also not returned to the Golden Age Hotel, where he had been staying, since Tuesday.
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His wife, Ms Seow Shu Ping, 28, told Chinese evening daily newspaper Lianhe Wanbao that she bought a one-way ticket to Greece and will not return till she has found him.

The couple tied the knot just two weeks ago.

Ms Seow, a teacher, is said to have flown to Greece last night.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, Ms Seow suspects that her husband could be lost or stranded on an island off Greece.
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In the last e-mail message Mr Kouk sent her on Monday night (Greek time), he had expressed interest in visiting some islands.

Professor Ranga Krishnan, the dean of Duke-NUS, said that the school will send a representative to Greece to assist the family in their search and to work with the relevant authorities.
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He added: "The family and Duke-NUS are working through the relevant channels to activate key international alerts in Greece, including broadcast, print and digital channels."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is aware of the case and is in close contact with Mr Kouk's family.
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It is also working with the Greek authorities, Interpol channels and the Greek ambassador to Singapore to locate Mr Kouk.
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Family and friends are also calling for information about his whereabouts through a Facebook page set up last Saturday.

SINGAPORE—The pace growth in private-home prices in Singapore slowed for the eighth straight quarter, indicating that the city-state's property market is cooling owing to measures from the authorities to keep prices in check.
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Preliminary data released Monday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed private-home prices rose 1.3% in the July-September period from the previous quarter. Home prices were up 2.0% in the second quarter, and rose 2.2% in the first three months of 2011.

Recent macroeconomic and policy developments in Europe and the U.S., where growth has stalled, may temper sentiment further. Singapore's government now expects its economy to expand between 5% and 6% this year, slower than its earlier 5%-7% estimate and sharply lower than the record 14.5% expansion logged in 2010.
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Analysts expect the resale market to help stabilize the pace of price increases at current levels, unless the global economic outlook worsens and damps sentiment in the local market.
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"Price growth is not expected to surge and neither should we expect a sudden drop…unless the euro-zone financial crisis takes another negative turn that sends further shock waves across Asia," said Chua Yang Liang, head of research for Southeast Asia at Jones Lang LaSalle.

He expects property prices to rise between 1% and 1.8% per quarter over the next few periods.
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"Given the currently moderate level of new sales as compared to resale activity...resale market activity is likely to continue to support property prices going forward," Mr. Chua said.

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, prices of non-landed private residential properties in the city-state's core central region rose by 0.8% in the second quarter, while the rest of the central region saw prices rise 1.1%.
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URA said that the flash estimates are based on transaction prices from the first 10 weeks of the quarter and that it would give a final update on prices later this month.

As in China and Hong Kong, Singapore's property prices rose significantly when the economy rebounded in late 2009. To prevent a price bubble, regulators in these markets have sought to stem speculative activity through a variety of measures such as raising the supply of land to developers and requiring larger down payments from buyers.
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Public-housing policies announced in August may also help dilute demand for private housing in Singapore. They include maintaining the pace of construction of new public housing and allowing more households to buy such units directly from the government, instead of purchasing them on the resale market.