Royal Dutch Shell flared gases at its Pulau Bukom production site in Singapore on Jan. 26 after “an unplanned disruption to a process unit,” the company said in a notice on its website.

The flarings were because of stabilization operations at an ethylene plant, the company said in a separate statement on its website yesterday.

“There is greater possibility of dark smoke being released, as seen in the flaring, as new units tend to be more sensitive to disruptions,” according to the statement.

The cracker, part of the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex that officially opened in May last year, has the capacity to produce 800,000 metric tons of ethylene, 450,000 tons of propylene and 230,000 tons of benzene annually from fuels including naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, according to the company’s website.