South-east Asia's first underground rock cavern for oil storage expects strong industry demand, reports UMA SHANKARI
Business Times 28 Dec 10;
JTC's ground-breaking Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC) project, which has been in the making for close to a decade, is finally taking shape.
Construction of the $950 million first phase of the mega-project is now about one year along and some of the development's caverns, tunnels and associated facilities are in the process of being built.
JTC also said that interest from industry players - especially manufacturers on Jurong Island - is strong.
JRC, which will be South-east Asia's first underground rock cavern for oil storage, will offer some 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space for the storage of liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil, naphtha, condensates and gas oil once it is completed in 2014.
The project is the result of JTC's bid to unlock the potential of subterranean depths beneath the sea in its efforts to create more industrial space in land-scarce Singapore.
JTC started feasibility studies and site investigation works, and started first conceptualising the JRC development plan from 2001 to 2005.
The detailed design of JRC was ready in mid-2008, after several years of work. The result: a gigantic rock cavern, located some 132 metres below ground level underneath Banyan Basin on Jurong Island.
JTC aims to provide infrastructural support to manufacturers on Jurong Island with its innovative JRC and provide greater synergy to these companies. The project is also seen as a strategic investment that will reinforce Singapore's position as a leading petroleum and chemicals hub.
JRC's first phase reached a milestone with the completion of two access shafts and start-up tunnels in 2009.
When the first two caverns are completed in 2013, they will yield a capacity of 0.48 million cubic metres. And by the time the entire phase one of the facility is completed in 2014, 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space will be available to the industry.
The entire phase one will involve eight kilometres of tunnels, with five caverns made up of two storage galleries, with each gallery being 340 metres long, 20 metres wide and 27 metres high. Each gallery, about nine-storeys high, is large enough to contain water from 64 Olympic-size pools.
JRC's first confirmed customer is the Jurong Aromatics Corporation (JAC) consortium, which is set to start building a US$2.4 billion petrochemicals complex on Jurong Island next year. The JAC facility is slated to come onstream in 2014, soon after JRC's completion.
JTC is also now exploring phase two of JRC, which can potentially add another 1.32 million cubic metres of storage space.
Underground caverns were first pioneered about 40-50 years ago. According to JTC, there are currently more than 200 rock caverns around the world, used for storing materials such as crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
One of the key benefits of such storage space is that they allow better utilisation of large tracts of land on the surface for higher value-added activities. JTC said that the 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space that JRC would offer translates to surface-land savings of about 60 hectares.
Going underground enhances safety. For one thing, physical security is improved as liquid hydrocarbons are stored at subterranean depths. The strategic storage also offers better fuel security.
In addition, storage underground is also more environmentally friendly, JTC said.
Pushing industrial boundaries
The agency is currently conducting on-going studies on underground oil storage as construction on JRC continues. It recently called a tender for a study on interaction between water seepage and oil.
The investigation will cover normal groundwater seepage - which is salty in nature - from the rock walls into the caverns and will study the effects of seepage water on the crude oil and oil products that will be stored at JRC from mid-2013.
JTC had conducted environmental impact studies as far back as 2006, after it found JRC to be economically and technically viable.
With the progress of the JRC, underground space is now seen as a viable option for certain industrial activities, said JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani in the agency's latest annual report.
An underground warehousing and logistics facility at Tanjong Kling and Jurong Hill is currently being explored, Mr Khiatani said.
In fact, the JRC project has already yielded another similar cutting-edge space usage solution - an underground science city.
Feasibility studies for the underground science city will be carried out and this will set the stage for the marketing of subterranean developments to other emerging economies, JTC hopes.
This series is brought by JTC
