SINGAPORE, March 31 (NNN-Bernama) — A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Singapore’s S$1.5 billion Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal was held on Jurong Island Wednesday.
The terminal facility, Asia’s first open-access multi-user terminal, capable of importing and re-exporting LNG from multiple suppliers will be ready by 2013.
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education S.Iswaran who officiated the ceremony said when fully operational, the terminal will not only help meet Singapore’s growing energy needs, but also catalyses the development of a robust gas market to underpin the country’s industrial growth.
The LNG terminal, located on a 30-hectare site on the south-western part of Jurong Island will have an initial capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), with provision for expansion to 6 Mtpa or more,if required.
Iswaran also said to further diversify Singapore’s energy portfolio, the government was also prepared to consider other energy sources such as clean coal and electricity imports in the medium term.
“We expect these to be undertaken on a market basis with appropriate safeguards to maintain the reliability of supply and to meet environmental considerations,” he added.
The minister said the government was also funding research and development in renewables such as solar, while embarking on a feasibility study of nuclear energy, as possible options to meet the city-state’s long term needs.
He also announced that six power companies in Singapore, namely, Senoko Energy, PowerSeraya, Tuas Power Generation, SembCorp Cogen, Keppel Merlimau Cogen and Island Power Company had entered into long-term gas purchase contracts with Singapore’s LNG aggregator, BG Singapore Gas Marketing Pte Ltd.
The six companies have committed to an initial tranche of around 1.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of regasified LNG, and this is about one-quarter of the volume of gas currently being imported by pipelines into Singapore.
BG is committed to supplying LNG to Singapore from its global portfolio, initially from Trinidad and Egypt, and later from its coal-seam gas fields in Queensland, Australia, when that liquefaction project begins production in 2014.
Running parallel to the terminal’s development is the construction of some 65 kilometres of new gas pipelines by PowerGas, a subsidiary of Singapore Power, that will connect the terminal to the existing network for the conveyance of re-gasified LNG to end-users.
– NNN-BERNAMA
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