A creative solution
Business Times 30 Nov 10;
The new Offshore Marine Centre, which will be up and running by next Nov, will supplement E&P support services currently provided by firms at Loyang Offshore Supply Base in the east. RONNIE LIM reports
SINGAPORE'S new Offshore Marine Centre (OMC) will further boost support facilities here for the region's oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector when it is up and running around November next year.
Strategically located at Tuas View - a hockey-shaped land strip on the western tip of Singapore - the OMC is the second big project being built there, after Sembcorp's mega, new shipyard at a nearby 206-hectare site. The area is shaping up to become the next major port/offshore marine hub here, as there are strong indications that Singapore's port operations in the city centre could also shift there in the near future.
The OMC - which replaces an earlier offshore support base at Shipyard Road in Jurong, in the west - will supplement E&P support services currently provided by companies at Loyang Offshore Supply Base in Singapore's east.
Among Loyang's latest tenants is Swire Oilfield Services, a leading global supplier of specialist DNV-rated offshore cargo carrying units, which has just opened its regional office there. Swire plans to grow its South-east Asian business through Singapore, with its Loyang operations expected to account for 5 per cent of the group's global revenue by next year.
Future expansion
A spokesperson for JTC Corporation, which is developing the 13-ha OMC, says that it is currently in discussions with potential tenants including several offshore manufacturing firms. There are 20 plots there, with some of the larger tenants expected to take up more than one plot. And already before even the OMC has started, JTC has reserved an additional four-ha site nearby for its future expansion, the spokesperson added.
JTC, which awarded the $54 million construction contract for the OMC to Malaysia's Muhibbah Engineering in September, said the works include dredging of the seabed fronting the project and building a 320-metre wharf. The base will also have a two-storey central operations building and an electrical sub-station, while three areas of the 30-m wide wharf will be designed for 500-tonne mobile crane operations.
The OMC 'is an infrastructure innovation it conceived and developed to provide unique waterfront infrastructure for the offshore and marine industry, and to help optimise the use of scarce waterfront land here', it said.
Tang Wai Yee, JTC's director (Aerospace, Marine and CleanTech), explains: 'The multi-user complex, which will provide common waterfront and berthing facilities, is a creative solution which will not only enable us to stretch our limited waterfront resources, but also help reduce capital costs for companies.'
'It will enable Singapore to attract new, high value-add activities in the marine and offshore sector, in addition to catering to existing customers' expansion plants.'
'The OMC is unique as it provides a differentiating advantage that will enhance Singapore's value proposition and strengthen its leadership position in the global marketplace,' she adds.
To make more efficient use of scarce land here, JTC has also just appointed Jurong Consultants to carry out a land intensification study for the offshore and marine (O&M) sector here. This covers some 3,000 companies broadly involved in two clusters - marine engineering (including shipbuilding, rig building and ship or FPSO conversions) and offshore oil and gas E&P support services.
Common characteristics
JTC said that while companies within the O&M sector have vastly different facility requirements, the sector nevertheless 'shares certain common characteristics in terms of the space/land utilisation of its facilities, which is generally low'.
For example, the sector commonly uses computer numerical control machines, which because of their weight and high specifications require low vibration and are usually located on ground-floor areas. Because most of their materials and products are heavy and bulky, these are usually stored in the open or on the ground, rather than stacked within warehouses.
The consultant will therefore be asked to study existing value-chain activities in O&M operations and come up with conceptual designs for each of the two industry clusters that can increase the plot ratio or reduce the land required. This includes the possibility of their having multi-tenanted buildings with shared facilities, among other solutions.
Related to this, Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) is also carrying out an in-depth study to see how it can further boost the competitiveness and productivity of the marine and offshore industry here vis-a-vis competitors in countries like South Korea, Norway and China.
EDB, which has just called a tender for a consultant to undertake the study, said that it will analyse Singapore-based companies involved in providing whole or part of the value-chain in producing offshore oil rigs, floating production, storage and offloading vessels, offshore support vessels and other ocean-going vessels.
It 'will analyse the competitive advantages and disadvantages of the Singapore industry in the provision of these services in relation to the global marketplace'. These include areas like Singapore's workforce profile and relationships among shipyards, contractors, sub-contractors and equipment providers.
