By Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 17 Apr 09;
PHASE 1 of Jurong Rock Cavern, the first underground oil storage facility to be built in South-east Asia, will finally begin construction by year's end and cost about $890 million.
The first storage caverns will be ready by the first half of 2013, said JTC Corporation during a briefing yesterday.
JTC has awarded the building contract to South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction - over the only other bidder, fellow South Korean firm SK Engineering and Construction.
The tender was called in late 2007 but the complexity and design of the project led to delays, said a JTC spokesman.
Its cost has also risen, above the $700 million expected earlier.
This is what an underground rock cave 132m below the ground looks like, except that this will be used to store Singapore's petrochemicals in future. JTC Corp yesterday said it had awarded an $890 million contract to South Korean firm Hyundai Engineering and Construction to begin construction of the first phase of the Jurong Rock Cavern. The project, which broke ground in early 2007, has completed its initial phase, which consists of two access shafts and start-up galleries for the storage caverns. When completed, the first phase will have 8km of tunnels and five caverns, and will contain nine storage galleries, each about nine storeys high and big enough to take in water from more than 64 Olympic-sized swimming pools.Japanese firm Sato-Kogyo has already built two access shafts and start-up galleries in the initial phase for the storage caverns, work that has cost about $50 million.
The media yesterday visited part of the rock cavern under the seabed of the Banyan Basin via an access shaft that went as deep as 132m below ground level.
Workers will use a technique that drills and blasts sedimentary rock to build the cavern, which will be used to store liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil, condensate, naphtha and gas oil.
The first phase consists of 8km of tunnels and five caverns.
Together, they will contain nine storage galleries, each about nine storeys high and big enough to accommodate the water from more than 64 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Jurong Rock Cavern will free up about 60ha of usable land above ground, which is highly sought after by investors on Jurong Island.
This land can now be used for higher value-added manufacturing activities, said JTC's spokesman.
The Government is also considering building offshore sites to cater to Jurong Island's storage needs.
'The cavern will provide strategic storage for better fuel security and it also gives Singapore a competitive advantage to attract more investors,' said the spokesman.
Hyundai Engineering won the contract due to its experience in building similar projects in South Korea and Taiwan, said JTC.
The contractor is also working on other projects here, such as phases 3 and 4 of the Pasir Panjang Terminal and the One Shenton Way residential development.
Hyundai clinches $890m Jurong Rock Cavern contract
It will design and build the first phase, with work starting at year-end
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 17 Apr 09;
CONSTRUCTION proper of Singapore's underground oil storage project is finally set to start with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction clinching the main $890 million 'design and build' contract this week from JTC Corporation.
Actual building under this contract, for the first phase of Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC), begins at year- end, with the first two caverns providing 480,000 cubic metres of oil storage when ready in the first half of 2013.
The entire phase one, comprising five caverns, will offer a total of 1.47 million cu m when completed by 2014.
This will make the JRC slightly larger than the $470 million, 1.24 million cu m tankfarm of Horizon Terminals, but about two- thirds that of Hin Leong Trading's $750 million, 2.3 million cu m Universal Terminal - Asia's largest commercial storage.
The project had earlier run into some delays, although Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry S Iswaran last month gave the assurance that Singapore was committed to the JRC which would help alleviate the land shortage on Jurong Island.
Investors have not been able to get land there to build more above-ground oil terminals needed by oil refiners and traders to store their oil and petrochemical products.
So despite being behind schedule and slightly above cost, the JRC will provide necessary infrastructure for Singapore's oil hub, especially once the rebound comes.
The cost for phase one of JRC - being built under Banyan Basin - has run up by about one-third to $940 million from an earlier estimate of $700 million.
This includes the $50 million for two access shafts and start-up galleries - which are almost completed - to facilitate construction.
The chosen operator of the JRC - earlier expected to be announced at the same time as the main construction award - will, however, only be made known by mid-year, JTC officials indicated yesterday.
Existing terminal operators here such as Royal Vopak of Holland and Emirates National Oil Company are known to be vying for this.
The main construction award came 11/2 years after the tender was first called by JTC in late-2007.
Asked why it took that long, given that there were only two bidders (the other being South Korea's SK Engineering), the spokesman explained that 'it's a huge tender which involved a lot of detailed work and is very complex'.
The work is being done 130m below the seabed, and Hyundai - which has experience with such projects in Taiwan and Korea - has to carry out 'drill and blast' excavation using explosives, he added.
The entire phase one will involve eight kilometres of tunnels, with five caverns made up of two storage galleries, with each gallery being 340m long, 20m wide and 27m high. (About nine-storeys high, each gallery is large enough to contain water from over 64 Olympic-sized pools).
'The water pressure will keep the oil contained within the generally unlined rock caves,' the spokesman said.
The higher project cost arose due to improvements made to the cavern designs to enhance operational flexibility, he explained.
A planned phase two of the JRC could add a further 1.3 million cu m of storage, doubling its capacity.
Asked if this could cost more than phase one, the spokesman said that 'the complexity is similar, so it depends on the timing (of when the project is done)'.
JTC contracts Hyundai Engineering to build underground oil storage
Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia 16 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE: Work on Singapore's first underground oil storage facility finally gets underway after an eight-month delay.
Developer JTC has appointed Hyundai Engineering, which has experience in constructing similar projects in Taiwan and Korea, to build the first phase of tunnels and caves under Jurong Island in a project worth S$890 million.
Choosing a constructor for the Jurong Rock Cavern was delayed twice as JTC needed more time to look at the proposals in detail. Work is now expected to start by year-end, with the first two caves targeted to be operational by 2013.
When completed, the tunnels will connect five massive oil storage caverns, big enough to store 1.47 million cubic metres of liquid hydrocarbons like crude oil – equivalent to 580 Olympic-sized pools.
JTC said the cavern has been strategically constructed under the seabed on Jurong Island to be near potential customers who are already storing similar products above ground.
It was initially reported to have cost S$700 million. But the bill went up following design changes to allow each storage cave to operate independently and be adaptable to different users.
Going under to store strategic items like oil and ammunition have become a growing trend in Asia after increased security following the September 11 incident in the United States, back in 2001.
JTC said the Jurong Rock Cavern can help firms cut costs and make Singapore more attractive to investors.
Phase 1 of the project is expected to save some 60 hectares of surface land which can be used for other higher value-added activities.
Phase 2 will mirror Phase 1, and the second half of the cavern could add a further 1.3 million cubic metres of storage, doubling total capacity.
JTC said it has studied similar projects in Norway, France, Japan and Korea before working on the design for Jurong Rock Cavern.
- CNA/so