from the ground Up

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, 17 April 2009

Work on underground oil storage facility to start by year’s end; phase 1 to cost $890m

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.
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.