October 30, 2015 [Downstream Today] - Work on Singapore's planned development of a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the eastern part of the country continues, with state agencies exploring sites for considerations by the government, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran told reporters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week 2015 Monday.
“You would recall when the Prime Minister officially opened the first terminal (on Jurong Island in February 2014) he announced we are studying plans for a second terminal in (the) eastern part (of Singapore). So at this point, the agencies are involved in looking at where … (are) the appropriate sites … for consideration,” Iswaran commented.
“It is a process that has to run its course because there are various technical and other issues to be addressed. So we have to wait for that to come about.”
He added that Singapore has not fixed a firm timeline so far for the project, but added that “the preference would be to have the plans firmed up so that when the appropriate window opens up we can move on this as part of the enhancement of Singapore’s LNG infrastructure.”
Last October, Minister Iswaran said the proposed second LNG terminal, when completed, possibly in the early part of next decade, would help to ensure that Singapore has sufficient infrastructural capacity to accommodate domestic gas demand and associated activities in the long run.
Singapore’s Jurong Island LNG terminal, operated by Singapore LNG Corp. (SLNG) since May 2013, have three tanks. The terminal’s throughput capacity is expected to rise from 6 million tons per annum (Mtpa) to around 11 Mtpa by 2017 with the addition of a fourth tank, which has potential for a further expansion to 15 Mtpa. Samsung C&T secured the contract to build the fourth tank project from SLNG in August 2014.