APIC ‘08: Singapore petchems poised for growth

27 May 2008 06:28  [Source: ICIS news]

By Bohan Loh

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Singapore’s petrochemical industry could see a growth spurt in the next five-seven years following the completion of mega projects by Shell and ExxonMobil on Jurong Island, the Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) said in a report on Tuesday.

SCIC’s report, presented at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC), showed a strong growth trend, with the chemical sector, which forms a major portion of Singapore’s manufacturing sector, posting an estimated output of Singapore dollar (S$)83.1bn ($61.1bn) for 2007. 

The petrochemical sector saw a 21% year-on-year rise in output to S$26.8bn in 2007. 

New growth opportunities were expected once ExxonMobil Chemical’s largest petrochemical complex in Singapore came on-stream with a production capacity of 1m tonnes/year of ethylene, 1.3m tonnes/year of polyethylene, 450,000 tonnes/year polypropylene and 300,000 tonnes/year of specialty elastomers, it added.

The report also highlighted the Jurong Island Rock Cavern (JRC) site, at Banyan LogisPark on Jurong Island, which would provide 1.47m cubic metres (cbm) storage capacity for liquid hydrocarbon upon completion in 2010, it said.

Talks were ongoing to further expand the capacity of the JRC facility in response to the strong demand for storage space, it added.

Overall the manufacturing sector in Singapore attracted S$16.1bn as investment in 2007, a nearly 83% rise from S$8.8bn in 2006.

APIC is a two-day industry forum attended by senior corporate executives from the petrochemical, chemical and chemical-related industries.

($1 = S$1.36)  

ICIS and The Chemical Daily have produced an official 84-page, special publication on Asian petrochemicals for the APIC event
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By: Bohan Loh
+65 6780 4359

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