All projects studied under Jurong Island 2.0 initiative completed

Ronnie Lim Business Times 21 Mar 12;

ALL the 10 or so projects studied under the Jurong Island version 2.0 initiative, aimed at ramping up the petrochemical island's competitiveness and overcoming its resource limitations, have been completed, JTC director Heah Soon Poh told BT this week.

They include introducing alternative feedstocks like liquefied petroleum gas, synthetic gas (from coal), and from biorenewables for the petrochemical plants, to tapping unused 'cold' energy from the LNG terminal, and building a second road link to the mainland for better logistics and worker movement.

Following this, the government is now into the next phase of testing with industry and companies the business case, or efficacy of the projects, he said. This comes less than two years after the JI 2.0 initiative was first launched.

'Some of the projects are already in the process of being implemented,' Mr Heah said, when asked for an update of JI 2.0, but he declined to go into specifics at this stage.

'The studies have been positive,' he said.

The move to ensure the long-term competitiveness of Jurong Island - which is home to over 100 petrochemical companies with well over $35 billion in investments - was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when he opened Shell's new US$3 billion (S$3.78 billion) petrochemical complex in May 2010.

The effort involves government agencies including JTC, Economic Development Board, Land Transport Authority, Maritime Port Authority, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, the Public Utilities Board as well as the Jurong Island companies as well.

On alternative feedstocks, BT reported last month that industry players, like Shell and Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore, are now seeking land on Jurong Island to build an LPG terminal, estimated to cost US$100-$120 million, with a project go-ahead possibly by Q3 this year.

Following completion of its feasibility study, the EDB last month also launched a request for proposals (RFP) from commercial developers to further explore the feasibility of building a coal gasification plant.

The project will not only supply utilities but also produce syngas, a combination of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, as a petrochemicals feedstock.

Under a separate JI 2.0 project, the EDB also studied use of 'green' materials including crops like palm oil and sugar cane, as well as bio-feedstocks like sugars, bioethanol to produce chemicals and industrial polymers.

All these would be alternatives to mainly naphtha, and more recently heavy 'bottoms' like hydrowax from the refineries, currently used to produce feedstock for the downstream chemical plants there.

While strictly not part of the JI 2.0 plan, Singapore is also building underground oil storage like the $890 million first phase Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC), and is set to embark on building its first floating oil storage off Pulau Sebarok to overcome land constraints on Jurong Island.

JTC's Mr Heah said a decision 'is expected soon' on the very large floating structure project. The corporation is also evaluating potential operators for the JRC under a two-stage RFP, and expects to award the operatorship later this year, he added.

Parsons Brinckerhoff, a leading underground storage builder in the US which is involved in Singapore's JRC project, is now working 'towards the handover of the first two of five Phase 1 caverns by mid-2013,' its project manager Chin Hwi Gan said.

The JRC project will not only strengthen Singapore's refining/petrochem- icals edge, but 'will also free up about 60 hectares of sought-after land that can be used for manufacturing purposes,' he said in a recent company newsletter.