The Jurong Caverns, Singapore’s large-scale oil storage project, is an engineering feat.
In a latest accomplishment, Singapore has found an ‘underground’ solution to its commercial oil storage issues and land constraints. An engineering feat, the massive Jurong Caverns on the Jurong Island is the first oil storage facility in South-east Asia and was inaugurated by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on September 2, 2014.
The five caverns, reaching a depth of 150 m under the Banyan Basin (energy and chemicals hub), have freed up 60 hectares of usable land, which measures to about 84 football fields. They are 27 m high, 20 m wide and 340 m long, basically, as tall as a 9-storey building.
It took six years of planning, with eight following constructions, 1,700 workers and $758 million to complete the ambitious project that merged seven southern islands.
Despite not producing any crude oil or feedstock, the petrochemical industry accounts for a third of Singapore’s manufacturing output and creates domestic jobs.
The Jurong Caverns will be utilized to store 1.47 million cubic meters of liquid hydrocarbons (crude oil and condensate), as opposed to being stored in large tanks above the ground.
While two caverns have already been leased out to Jurong Aromatics Corporations for feedstock storage for its upcoming plant, the other three caverns will be operational by 2016.
This is not the first time Singapore has attempted large-scale underground storage for industrial use. In 2008, the Singapore Armed Forces freed land measuring 400 football fields by opening an underground ammunition facility to store military ware (ammunition and explosives).
Photo Credits: BBC
