First piles driven into the ground at the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex

When complete, the complex will include a new 800,000 tonnes per annum, world-scale ethylene cracker and a 750,000 tonnes per annum mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) plant. The project scope also includes modifications and additions to the Bukom Refinery.

Yesterday's events were marked by three separate ceremonies that took place at the Ethylene Cracker Complex on Pulau Bukom, the MEG site on Jurong Island and at the existing Bukom Refinery. Staff and contractors working on the project were invited to the ceremonies where the management team took the opportunity to congratulate them on the milestones achieved and to recognise the excellent safety record the project has achieved to date: one million exposure hours without a single recordable incident.

Construction of SEPC began in late October last year and remains on target for start-up in 2009/2010. With a current workforce of nearly 1,400 people and resources mobilised in over 15 locations from Glasgow to Tokyo, across five different time zones, the project has achieved a number of milestones already:

• Land reclamation works by JTC Corp for the cracker project have been successfully completed and handed over
• Offices for the Shell project team and Foster Wheeler's¹ office for the Bukom Refinery modifications, and the MEG project teams in Jurong, have been opened and are in use
• A dormitory to house 1,500 workers on the MEG plant on Jurong Island is nearly complete and will be in operation from June onwards
• A dormitory for staff working on the ethylene cracker is under construction on Pulau Bukom and will eventually be home to 3,000 workers

Commenting at yesterday's ceremony, Pieter Eijsberg, General Manager of SEPC (pictured) said: "We are delighted with the progress on SEPC and greatly appreciate the hard work and commitment of everyone working on the project. We will continue to need this commitment to maintain the excellent safety record to date and to help manage all the challenges to keep the project running on schedule."

The project now moves in to an intensive construction phase, which at its peak will require the services of between 6,000 and 8,000 people. The project represents Shell's largest-ever Chemical investment in Singapore and reaffirms our commitment to serve the fast growing demand in the region.

For further information, please contact:
Shell Chemicals Media Relations:
Bianca Ruakere
Tel: +44 207 934 4506
email: bianca.ruakere@shell.com

Shell Singapore Media Relations:
Yam-Chew Oh
Tel: +65 6384 8943
email: yam-chew.oh@shell.com

Notes to editors
¹Foster Wheeler Asia Pacific are the contractors for the refinery modifications.

Shell companies have their own separate identities but we may sometimes use "Shell", "Group, "we" or "us" when we refer to Shell companies in general or where no useful purpose is served by identifying any particular Shell company.

Shell Chemicals collectively refers to the companies of the Shell Group engaged in the chemicals business. Shell chemicals companies manufacture and deliver petrochemical building blocks and polyolefins to industrial customers. These products are widely used in plastics, coatings and detergents.

Disclaimer statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil, gas, power, chemicals and renewables business. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but may be affected by a variety of variables which could cause actual results or trends to differ materially, including, but not limited to: price fluctuations, actual demand, currency fluctuations, drilling and production results, reserve estimates, loss of market, industry competition, environmental risks, physical risks, the risk of doing business in developing countries, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates.

Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2006 for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Companies' businesses. Neither of the Companies undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.