About 75% of Jurong Island’s 3,000 hectares of land has been taken up or reserved by oil and petrochemical investors, while the remaining 25% could be taken up by more companies, according to JTC Corporation, a Singapore government agency.
Last Friday, JTC marked the completion of phases 3 and 4 of land reclamation, which added 1,500 hectares and doubled the total land available on the island.
Some companies have been considering deepening their investments on the island, according to JTC Chairman Cedric Foo last week.
Singapore oil trader Hin Leong is currently in discussions with JTC on its expansion plans for the 2.3 million cubic metres (m³) Universal Terminal.
Hin Leong had indicated that the company was planning to expand the terminal using empty land next to the oil depot.
Meanwhile, in order to optimise land use on Jurong Island, JTC has gone underground to build a close to S$900 million ($638 million) first phase Jurong Rock Cavern to store oil.
JTC is also exploring plans to build very large floating storage (VLFS) in the waters off the coast of Jurong Island to store oil products.
Following a phase 1 study which was completed in late 2007, JTC will now decide whether to build the VLFS depending on the outcome of a phase 2 study which is scheduled for completion in March 2010, a JTC spokesperson told the local Business Times.
A VLFS unit will come in two rectangular modules each measuring 180 metres (m) by 80 m by 15 m, with 150,000 m³ of capacity each.
It is estimated to cost about S$180 million ($128 million) and could be built in 18 to 24 months.
Construction of the underground caverns, on the other hand, is starting this year, with the first two caverns providing 480,000 m³ expected to be ready in the first-half of 2013.
The entire phase 1 comprising five caverns will add 1.485 million m³ of strategic storage capacity for crude oil, naphtha, condensate and gas oil.