JTC to study novel multi-tier oil storage idea

Study is expected to be completed by January 2012
Ronnie Lim Business Times 19 Sep 11;

(SINGAPORE) The first move was to go underground. And coming up shortly - above water. Then, it's going to be literally up in the air.

That seems to be the progressive direction for future oil and petrochemical storage projects in Singapore - given the shortage of land on Jurong Island to build any more above-ground tank farms.

Leaving no stone unturned, Jurong Town Corporation is now going to study the feasibility of having multi-tier storage tanks for oil and petrochemical products - which is a novel idea, apparently not yet in commercial use anywhere.

This comes as construction is well underway on the $890 million phase one of the underground Jurong Rock Cavern, where the first five caverns will provide 1.47 million cubic metres of storage when ready in the first half of 2013.

JTC is also expected to call construction tenders this year-end for the first floating oil storage off Pulau Sebarok, once the consultants' studies are completed on the project. The first such very large floating structure (VLFS), comprising two rectangular floating modules, is expected to offer minimum storage of 300,000 cu m, or equal to that of a very large crude carrier.

The Corporation, which has just called a tender for the study on multi-tier oil storage, said that the project is 'in line with our land optimisation and intensification efforts, and seeks to explore innovative ways to store petroleum and petrochemical products.'

A JTC spokesman added: 'The focus of this project would be to study the feasibility of stacking liquid tanks up with the aim of achieving at least 20 per cent land savings, as compared with conventional tank layout of equivalent storage capacity. We expect to complete the study by January 2012.'

Reacting to the latest JTC oil storage plan, industry players said that it was certainly revolutionary. But the bottom-line, they stress, will be its cost.

Most industry officials - whether from plant engineering and oil terminal facilities here - reckon that such a project will likely be expensive.

'The idea has been bandied about, but has not been done before,' one source said.

'Typically, the steel used to construct oil storage tanks is thicker at the bottom than at the top, so you can't just stack another tank atop the first. You'll probably need a frame (to hold the tank above),' the source added. 'So in the end, whether the idea is viable or not will depend on cost.'

Another industry source reckons that the idea may be possible with smaller storage tanks of a few hundred cubic metres capacity, such as those for petrochemicals or lubricants, with the tanks standing on a structure, much like in a tingkat or tiffin carrier.

Apart from storage by the oil majors here such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Singapore Refining Company, several independent operators including Vopak, Hin Leong-PetroChina's Universal Terminal, Emirates National Oil Company's Horizon Terminal and Chemoil's Helios Terminal also offer oil traders storage space. The latest player - and according to industry observers, possibly the last allowed on Jurong Island - is Stolt Nielsen with its chemicals storage.

But with the continuing influx of traders to Singapore's oil and petrochemicals hub, Jurong Island is still short of storage capacity, and this is reflected in the number of Singapore-based international oil traders who have resorted to using tank farms in neighbouring Johor.