Jurong Rock Cavern tender likely to be awarded in Feb

Ronnie Lim, Business Times 19 Jan 09;

CONSTRUCTION of the $700 million first phase of an underground oil storage facility on Jurong Island finally looks set to kick off after next month.

This is when JTC Corporation expects to decide on the main building contractor as well as the operator for Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC), in a move that will help pump-prime the weak economy.

'We are in the final stages of evaluation (of the tenders) and expect to make a decision in February,' a JTC spokeswoman told BT recently. But she declined to name the short-listed bidders or say how many are in the running for the main construction award.

One of the groups earlier reported to be vying to operate the project is a consortium comprising Royal Vopak of Holland, which already operates above-ground oil tanks flanking the planned project, and Geostock-Jurong Consultants, which did basic engineering for JRC.

Another is said to be Emirates National Oil Company, which owns and runs Horizon Terminals on Jurong Island.

The latest JTC indication comes after months of delays in awarding tenders, which were first called in late 2007. Sources said previously that JTC needed more time to evaluate the tenders, especially for the main building contract, given the demanding design and engineering requirements.

Building JRC - by drilling and blasting sedimentary rock - will help stir activity on Jurong Island, given the delays in many projects there due to a global slump in demand as economies go into recession.

Jurong Aromatics Corporation, which plans a US$2 billion petrochemical complex, was one of the first committed customers for JRC. But JAC's project has been delayed as its partners are still trying to sew up financing.

JTC indicated in a pre-qualifying tender document in April 2007 that it expected the first two caverns of phase 1 JRC to be operating by December 2010.

In all, the first phase comprises five caverns to hold 1.485 million cubic metres of crude oil, naphtha, condensate and gas oil. Four will store 330,000 cu m each and the fifth will hold 165,000 cu m. The work will involve about 7km of galleries and tunnels, with an excavated volume of about 2.5 million cu m beneath the Banyan Basin.

A planned phase 2 could add a further 1.3 million cu m of storage, doubling JRC's total capacity.