Singapore’s LNG terminal can potentially be developed to handle over nine million tonnes per annum (tpa) of liquefied natural gas for domestic consumption alone, EMA chief executive Lawrence Wong said.
This can be ramped up to 12 million tpa or more when future spot trading and other LNG business opportunities arise.
The terminal’s long-term ability to handle nine-plus million tpa of LNG for domestic use is significant, as this is 50 per cent more than the six million tpa of piped gas which the Republic currently imports from Indonesia and Malaysia, other industry officials told BT.
The latest projections reflect Singapore’s intent to grow the initial S$1.5 billion Jurong Island terminal in tandem with the growing gas needs of power stations and industries here. LNG volumes will also be needed for future opportunities including spot trading of LNG, ‘cold energy’ and cooling services, and as bunkering fuel for ships.
Singapore LNG Corporation is currently developing a long-term master plan ‘which will give it the flexibility to configure and develop the terminal for future expansion’, Energy Market Authority’s Mr Wong disclosed at a LNG conference here yesterday.
This will take it beyond the terminal’s first phase comprising two 180,000 cubic metre tanks which will provide an initial 3.5 million tpa of capacity. The project is making ‘good progress’, and is on-track for commissioning in 2013, he reported.
But the 40-hectare site on Jurong Island can potentially accommodate up to 4-5 more LNG storage tanks which may be needed for future gas needs here.
In the power sector for example, 80 per cent of Singapore’s electricity is currently generated from gas-firing plants, which are more efficient and also more environment-friendly.
‘And in the next three to five years, the five gencos here, including new player Island Power, have plans for new gas-firing plants which add up to an additional 3,000 megawatts of capacity,’ Mr Wong said. This is equivalent to having another big genco here of the size of Senoko Energy (3,300MW) or PowerSeraya (3,100MW).
‘Besides relying on gas to power our economy, we are also positioning ourselves in Singapore to take full advantage of the global trends in the gas market and create value across the entire chain of LNG activities,’ he added.
This includes vessel ‘cool-down’ services, where LNG vessels completing their maintenance can be ‘gassed up’, and brought down to operating temperature before arriving at their loading port.
The terminal will also offer storage and reloading services - with this enhancing trading activities by allowing companies like ConocoPhillips and Gazprom (which have set up LNG trading arms here) to store and subsequently re-export their cargoes.
It can also provide a range of different services, like storage and sale of industrial gases like liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, as well as LNG trucking or use of LNG as fuel for ships.
‘All these are possibilities provided for in the master plan, although it’s still too early to say which activities or services to focus on, and it also depends a lot on how the LNG market changes,’ Mr Wong said at the World LNG Series, Asia-Pacific Summit.
‘But we are planning for these possibilities now, so that as the market evolves, we will be well positioned to take full advantage of opportunities that open up.’
