First dedicated LPG terminal in Singapore in the works

03 February 2010 02:59  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Singapore is expected to capitalise on an expected surge of fuel supply from the Middle East through building its first dedicated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal, said an official at a petrochemical firm in the city-state on Wednesday.

“The (LPG) terminal is currently under a project development stage,” said the source from the Petroleum Corporation of Singapore (PCS), a major naphtha cracker operator.

He said some 20-30m tonnes of LPG are expected to be available between 2008 and 2012, with much of the supplies coming from the Arabian Gulf.

PCS is  “very interested” to build refrigerated tanks to store LPG feedstock to take advantage of this increase of supplies, the company official added, but said no concrete plans have been made thus far to implement them. 

The company has two naphtha steam crackers on Singapore’s Jurong Island with 1.9m tonnes/year in combined capacity for olefin production.

It is not immediately clear who are currently involved in the LPG terminal project discussions but Shell had indicated earlier on an interest to participate in any way in this development.

The participants involved are “clearly thinking of tapping Qatar’s recent involvement (with Shell)”, said an analyst at a petrochemical consultancy firm.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) made its first downstream investment last year by partnering with Shell in Singapore. QPI and Shell Chemicals now jointly own 30% of The Polyolefin Company and 50% of PCS, both located in Singapore’s petrochemical hub in Jurong Island.

But lack of available space on Jurong Island for new terminals would mean that services of Royal Vopak or Oiltanking, which operate storage terminals in the island, may need to be tapped, the analyst said.

“Using third-party operators means other companies would be able to have a share, especially since the crackers there would be able to use the LPG as add-on feedstock,” the analyst added.

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By: Nurluqman Suratman

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