SPEECH BY MS LOW YEN LING, SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF JURONG PORT TANK TERMINALS ON WEDNESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2017, 6.20PM, THE PAN PACIFIC SINGAPORE

 

Chairman of Jurong Port,

President of Oiltanking Asia-Pacific,

CEO of Jurong Port,

Distinguished guests,  

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

Introduction

1.            I am pleased to join you today for the launch of Jurong Port Tank Terminals (“JPTT”). This event celebrates a significant milestone for Jurong Port, Singapore’s main general and bulk cargo port, and Oiltanking, one of the world’s largest tank terminal operators. By coming together in a strategic partnership, the two companies can tap on each other’s expertise and years of experience to drive the success of the project, which will play an important role in supporting the Energy and Chemicals, or “E&C”, industry.

 

Singapore is one of the world’s leading E&C hubs; the outlook for the industry remains strong

2.            The E&C industry continues to be an important pillar of Singapore’s manufacturing sector. In 2016, the industry accounted for about a fifth of our total manufacturing value added and provided good jobs to around 25,000 people. Globally, Singapore ranks within the top 10 by chemicals export volume.

3.            The E&C industry is anchored by Jurong Island, which now houses over 100 companies, including refineries, crackers, petrochemical and specialty chemicals manufacturers, and has attracted cumulative investments of more than $50 billion. Its success is a testament to our position as one of the world’s leading E&C hubs.

4.             Our E&C hub status is also complemented by our strong trading ecosystem. As Asia’s leading energy and petrochemicals trading hub, we are home to an extensive participant network of the world’s top trading companies, such as Trafigura, Shell and PetroChina. These companies generate significant trade flows through Singapore, which provide the necessary liquidity for trusted fuel oil pricing benchmarks to be determined here. Our E&C companies can capitalise on our access to these benchmarks to better manage risks and improve their margins.

5.            We continue to see growth opportunities in the E&C industry. Demand for energy and chemicals from Asia, driven by a growing population and middle class, continues to rise despite the uncertain global economic outlook. Sustainable urbanisation, climate change, as well as an increasing need for food and water security in the region also contribute to rising energy demands.

JPTT will enhance Singapore’s value proposition as an E&C hub

6.            JPTT will help us capture these growth opportunities and further enhance Singapore’s value proposition as an E&C hub by providing storage space for clean petroleum products and petrochemicals. 

7.            The facility’s potential storage capacity of approximately 480,000 cubic metres represents about half of the recent additions to the total storage capacity in Singapore.[1] This provides valuable support to our E&C companies, especially since it is becoming increasingly challenging to create new storage space in land-scarce Singapore.

8.            In addition, JPTT will be located at Jurong Port, which is in close proximity to Jurong Island. This allows the facility to be directly integrated into the petroleum and petrochemical network on Jurong Island via pipelines, therefore lowering costs and improving operational efficiencies for the companies there.

9.            I am happy to hear that several companies have already shown significant interest in using the facility, even though it is still at the early stages of construction.

Conclusion

10.        We are confident about the outlook of the E&C industry, and will continue to strengthen its competitiveness. We will soon launch the E&C Industry Transformation Map (ITM), which will lay out transformation and growth strategies to position this industry for the future. The government and industry stakeholders are also co-developing an E&C Skills Framework, which will enhance knowledge of the career pathways, job roles and skills needed for the industry. 

11.        I congratulate Jurong Port and Oiltanking on the launch of JPPT. I wish you a successful partnership and very best for the future. 

12.        Thank you.