Jurong LNG terminal's construction to start by mid-year

The project will go on stream around middle to late-2012, says a source
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 24 Jan 09;

CONSTRUCTION of Singapore's $1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is set to begin by the middle of this year, sources say. Developers PowerGas and Gaz de France are shortlisting engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors, they add.

This comes after front-end engineering and design work by Australian engineering firm WorleyParsons started last year.

'With a three to three-and-a half-year building time, a mid-year start will bring the project on stream around mid to late 2012,' a source told BT.

A mid-2009 start is slightly behind schedule. Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran had indicated earlier that construction should start by end-2008 or early-2009.

Singapore's decision to go ahead with the project is a strategic move to diversify its energy sources. It now relies on piped natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia, both of which increasingly need this domestically. 'The recent resurgence of gas pipeline problems between Russia and Ukraine reinforces Singapore's LNG move,' an official said. He was referring to a price dispute between the two countries that caused a two-week gas supply cut to other countries connected by the pipeline. The European Union relies on Russia for almost a quarter of its gas.

Singapore's LNG terminal, to be built on a 30 ha site on Jurong Island, involves two 150,000-cubic-metre storage tanks with send-out capacity of three million tonnes per annum (tpa) in the first phase. There is provision for expansion to six million tpa, involving another two tanks.

The current plan is to build the first two tanks, sources say. Earlier reports have said EPC groups bidding for the project include possible ties-ups between WorleyParsons and Foster Wheeler, Japan's Chiyoda, France's Technip and Korea's Daewoo, Punj Lloyd and Italy's Saipem, and several other Korean groupings such as Samsung/KBR/Kogas Technology and SK Gas/LG Corp.

London-listed BG Group, which has been appointed sole buyer of the LNG for Singapore, has indicated the Australian state of Queensland will be a key source of supply. But initially, LNG will be shipped here from elsewhere as the Queensland gas will not be available until 2013-2014.