Transforming Jurong Island into a sustainable energy and chemicals park

To underpin its clean energy transition, the Singapore Government wants to transform Jurong Island, the city-state’s oil and gas hub, into a sustainable energy and chemicals park. 

Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said the Sustainable Jurong Island Plan centres around two key areas – increasing output of sustainable products such as biofuels and chemicals and enabling sustainable production to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. 

“Our aspiration is for the E&C sector to, first, increase its output of sustainable products by four times from 2019 levels and, second, achieve more than 6M tonnes of carbon abatement per annum from low-carbon solutions, all by 2050,” said Minister Gan. 

Minister Gan revealed the Sustainable Jurong Island Plan while speaking at a groundbreaking for Shell Eastern Petroleum’s new plant on Pulau Bukom in November. Shell’s facility will be equipped with a new pyrolysis oil upgrader that turns hard-to-recycle plastic waste – which would normally end up in landfills – into an oil used to make feedstock chemicals for consumer products ranging from tires to mattresses. 

When it begins production in 2023, the pyrolysis oil upgrader will be the largest in Asia and Shell’s first globally, with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum. 

Shell’s investment in the facility is a lynchpin in the transformation of the Bukom manufacturing site into the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore. The park will be fully integrated with Shell Jurong Island and together will focus on low-carbon energy and sustainability, supplying biofuels, circular chemicals, bitumen, advanced lubricants and renewable energy. 

The development is part of Shell Singapore’s plans to cut its emissions from its operations by half by 2030 from 2016 levels. 

Shell expects carbon capture and storage to become a cornerstone of the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore, enabling Shell to design and produce low-carbon fuels, chemicals, and energy solutions like hydrogen. 

Additionally, development of a 550,000 tonnes per annum biofuels facility is awaiting FID and Shell has initiated other projects such as installing solar panels at Shell Bukom and electrifying ferries that transport workers between the island and the mainland to cut emissions. 

Separately in May, Shell inked an agreement with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to research processes to use carbon dioxide to produce ethanol and n-propanol. 

“Carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming. Converting it into useful products is a promising strategy to mitigate carbon emissions and close the carbon cycle,” said NUS deputy president research and technology Professor Chen Tsuhan. The S$4.6M (US$3.4M) programme is being supported by the National Research Foundation of Singapore. 

“Constant evolution and the pursuit of excellence have allowed Singapore’s E&C sector to transform from its humble beginnings as an oil storage facility to the vibrant and competitive cluster of chemical plants we see today,” observed Minister Gan. “Shell’s plans to transform its business in Singapore and become a net-zero emissions energy business is very much aligned with our vision for the E&C sector.”