Why we need such a deep storage in granite...300 feet below the surface?
Just hoping its not for nuclear plant or weopons storage.
Published April 17, 2009
Hyundai clinches $890m Jurong Rock Cavern contract
It will design and build the first phase, with work starting at year-end
By RONNIE LIM
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CONSTRUCTION proper of Singapore's underground oil storage project is finally set to start with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction clinching the main $890 million 'design and build' contract this week from JTC Corporation.
Actual building under this contract, for the first phase of Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC), begins at year- end, with the first two caverns providing 480,000 cubic metres of oil storage when ready in the first half of 2013.
The entire phase one, comprising five caverns, will offer a total of 1.47 million cu m when completed by 2014.
This will make the JRC slightly larger than the $470 million, 1.24 million cu m tankfarm of Horizon Terminals, but about two- thirds that of Hin Leong Trading's $750 million, 2.3 million cu m Universal Terminal - Asia's largest commercial storage.
The project had earlier run into some delays, although Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry S Iswaran last month gave the assurance that Singapore was committed to the JRC which would help alleviate the land shortage on Jurong Island.
Investors have not been able to get land there to build more above-ground oil terminals needed by oil refiners and traders to store their oil and petrochemical products.
So despite being behind schedule and slightly above cost, the JRC will provide necessary infrastructure for Singapore's oil hub, especially once the rebound comes.
The cost for phase one of JRC - being built under Banyan Basin - has run up by about one-third to $940 million from an earlier estimate of $700 million.
This includes the $50 million for two access shafts and start-up galleries - which are almost completed - to facilitate construction.
The chosen operator of the JRC - earlier expected to be announced at the same time as the main construction award - will, however, only be made known by mid-year, JTC officials indicated yesterday.
Existing terminal operators here such as Royal Vopak of Holland and Emirates National Oil Company are known to be vying for this.
The main construction award came 11/2 years after the tender was first called by JTC in late-2007.
Asked why it took that long, given that there were only two bidders (the other being South Korea's SK Engineering), the spokesman explained that 'it's a huge tender which involved a lot of detailed work and is very complex'.
The work is being done 130m below the seabed, and Hyundai - which has experience with such projects in Taiwan and Korea - has to carry out 'drill and blast' excavation using explosives, he added.
The entire phase one will involve eight kilometres of tunnels, with five caverns made up of two storage galleries, with each gallery being 340m long, 20m wide and 27m high. (About nine-storeys high, each gallery is large enough to contain water from over 64 Olympic-sized pools).
'The water pressure will keep the oil contained within the generally unlined rock caves,' the spokesman said.
The higher project cost arose due to improvements made to the cavern designs to enhance operational flexibility, he explained.
A planned phase two of the JRC could add a further 1.3 million cu m of storage, doubling its capacity.
Asked if this could cost more than phase one, the spokesman said that 'the complexity is similar, so it depends on the timing (of when the project is done)'.
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Just hoping its not for nuclear plant or weopons storage.
Published April 17, 2009
Hyundai clinches $890m Jurong Rock Cavern contract
It will design and build the first phase, with work starting at year-end
By RONNIE LIM
Email this article
Print article
Feedback
CONSTRUCTION proper of Singapore's underground oil storage project is finally set to start with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction clinching the main $890 million 'design and build' contract this week from JTC Corporation.
Actual building under this contract, for the first phase of Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC), begins at year- end, with the first two caverns providing 480,000 cubic metres of oil storage when ready in the first half of 2013.
The entire phase one, comprising five caverns, will offer a total of 1.47 million cu m when completed by 2014.
This will make the JRC slightly larger than the $470 million, 1.24 million cu m tankfarm of Horizon Terminals, but about two- thirds that of Hin Leong Trading's $750 million, 2.3 million cu m Universal Terminal - Asia's largest commercial storage.
The project had earlier run into some delays, although Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry S Iswaran last month gave the assurance that Singapore was committed to the JRC which would help alleviate the land shortage on Jurong Island.
Investors have not been able to get land there to build more above-ground oil terminals needed by oil refiners and traders to store their oil and petrochemical products.
So despite being behind schedule and slightly above cost, the JRC will provide necessary infrastructure for Singapore's oil hub, especially once the rebound comes.
The cost for phase one of JRC - being built under Banyan Basin - has run up by about one-third to $940 million from an earlier estimate of $700 million.
This includes the $50 million for two access shafts and start-up galleries - which are almost completed - to facilitate construction.
The chosen operator of the JRC - earlier expected to be announced at the same time as the main construction award - will, however, only be made known by mid-year, JTC officials indicated yesterday.
Existing terminal operators here such as Royal Vopak of Holland and Emirates National Oil Company are known to be vying for this.
The main construction award came 11/2 years after the tender was first called by JTC in late-2007.
Asked why it took that long, given that there were only two bidders (the other being South Korea's SK Engineering), the spokesman explained that 'it's a huge tender which involved a lot of detailed work and is very complex'.
The work is being done 130m below the seabed, and Hyundai - which has experience with such projects in Taiwan and Korea - has to carry out 'drill and blast' excavation using explosives, he added.
The entire phase one will involve eight kilometres of tunnels, with five caverns made up of two storage galleries, with each gallery being 340m long, 20m wide and 27m high. (About nine-storeys high, each gallery is large enough to contain water from over 64 Olympic-sized pools).
'The water pressure will keep the oil contained within the generally unlined rock caves,' the spokesman said.
The higher project cost arose due to improvements made to the cavern designs to enhance operational flexibility, he explained.
A planned phase two of the JRC could add a further 1.3 million cu m of storage, doubling its capacity.
Asked if this could cost more than phase one, the spokesman said that 'the complexity is similar, so it depends on the timing (of when the project is done)'.
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