Plan for Singapore floating oil terminal off Pulau Sebarok makes headway

Its construction looks set to begin early next year
Ronnie Lim Business Times 14 Oct 10;

CONSTRUCTION of Singapore's first floating oil terminal off Pulau Sebarok, very near Shell's Bukom refinery, looks set to start early next year.

And final preparations for the project's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), as well as business model, are about to get underway.

JTC Corporation is looking to award the tender next month for a consultant to carry out the project's front-end engineering design as well as manage its EPC, BT understands. About five groups are vying for the job, 'expressions of interest' for which were first called in May.

Sources said that at the same time, JTC is reviewing the business model for the Sebarok oil storage - its pioneer project for very large floating structures (VLFS) to help alleviate the shortage of industrial land here, especially those with waterfront sites.

This suggests options such as a joint JTC-private enterprise operation, or JTC appointing a third party to manage the terminal, with the latter a more likely scenario.

That will be more along the lines of the $890 million Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC) currently being built - with terminal operators here such as Vopak and Emirates National Oil Company earlier reported to be interested in operating the underground oil storage. The first caverns of the first-phase 1.47 million cubic metres JRC will be ready in the first half of 2013.

JTC had earlier called off the tender for the JRC's operatorship in 2009 due to the financial crisis, and said that it will call the tender again nearer the cavern's completion.

Meanwhile, 'everything's on schedule for the very large floating structure project', a source said.

The preparations of the EPC and business model marks the project's final stage. It follows phase one, completed in late-2007, which showed the VLFS to be technically feasible and comparable in cost to land-based storage. Phase two, completed in March this year, covered environmental impact, engineering design, business model and security aspects.

The JTC studies showed that to be economical, the minimum storage capacity of a VLFS should be 300,000 cubic metres, or equal to that of a very large crude carrier. VLFS would comprise two rectangular modules, each measuring 180m by 80m by 15m and with 150,000 cubic metres capacity.

Under a four-stage plan, the appointed consultant will now first review the VLFS design, such that it will have the flexibility of being constructed from steel or concrete.

Next will be preparation of the EPC tender, followed by calling and evaluation of the tender. Finally, it covers the VLFS construction and completion.

Pulau Sebarok is currently used by Vopak and PetroChina-owned Singapore Petroleum Company, and industry sources said that Vopak, with the advantage of being on-site, will most likely be keen to operate the VLFS.