“We confirm that Force Majeure has been declared on some of our customers,” Lee Tzu Yang, chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore, said on its website. 

“We continue to be in discussions with our customers to address their supply of product needs and to minimize any potential impact to them.” 

Reuters reported on Friday that the oil major had declared force majeure, a clause provided in contracts that allows buyers or sellers to renege on commitments due to events that are beyond their control, on at least 1.5 million barrels of mostly distillate cargoes, for loading between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6.

Counterparties include Singapore trader Hin Leong, with six cargoes of 100,000-180,000 barrels each; Glencore with three parcels, including the gasoline lot, while BP and JP Morgan has one each.

The impact of the shutdown of the company’s largest refinery in the world is mostly felt in the Asian gasoline and distillate markets, where Shell is a major supplier as well as a trader.

The refinery produces 6.5 million-7.0 million barrels of distillates, of which gas oil is about 4.5 million barrels.

It also produces another 4.0 million-4.5 million barrels of gasoline, based on estimates culled from its capacity, with about 90 percent of the refinery’s output exported.

The fire broke out on Wednesday and lasted for about 30 hours before being put out, forcing Shell to shut its entire refinery.