 Jurong Island, photographed in February 2011 | |
.svg)  Jurong Island Location of Jurong Island within Singapore | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Southeast Asia |
| Coordinates | 1°16′12″N103°41′45″E / 1.2701°N 103.6959°E /1.2701; 103.6959 |
| Archipelago | Malay Archipelago |
| Area | 32 km2 (12 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
| Region | West Region |
| Planning Area | Western Islands |
| CDC | |
| Town council |
|
| Constituency | |
| Member of Parliament | |
Jurong Island is anisland located to the southwest of the main island ofSingapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of seven offshoreislands, the islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kechil (also called Terumbu Pesek), Pulau Sakra (which was a previous merger of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau), Pulau Seraya, Pulau Meskol, Pulau Mesemut Laut, Pulau Mesemut Darat and Anak Pulau. This was done throughSingapore's land reclamation efforts. Land reclamation on Jurong Island was completed on 25 September 2009, 20 years earlier than scheduled. Pulau Buaya was joined to Jurong Island via reclamation in 2010. Jurong Island forms a land area of about 32 km2 (12 sq mi) from an initial area of less than 10 km2 (4 sq mi), and is the largest of Singapore's outlying islands.
The island was previously a stop on a maritime trade route. Jurong Island used to be a maze of island hideouts frequented by raiding pirates. Later in the early 19th century, entrepreneurs trading gambier altered the area for large scale settlement. In 1848 a British surveyor,John Turnbull Thomson, mentioned there were numerous Chinese and Malay villages in Jurong.[1]
The outlying islands ofPulau Ayer Chawan,Pulau Ayer Merbau,Pulau Merlimau andPulau Seraya used to house fishing communities comprising small villages up to the 1960s. The villagers lived inMalay-style wooden stilt houses on the palm-fringed islands. Between the late-1960s and early-1970s, three big oil companies planned to house their facilities on Pulau Ayer Chawan forEsso, Pulau Merlimau forSingapore Refinery Company and Pulau Pesek forMobil Oil.
TheGovernment of Singapore then took the opportunity to grow thepetrochemical industry to improve economic growth. It proved a success when the petroleum industry took off in the 1970s.
By the 1980s, after a decade of rapidindustrialisation, industrial land was growing scarce onSingapore mainland. The idea of joining the southern islands off Jurong to form one colossal island to create more industrial land was therefore conceived.
In 1991,JTC Corporation (formerlyJurong Town Corporation) was appointed the agent of the Jurong Island project. JTC planned and coordinated with various government agencies in providing the necessary infrastructure and services to the island.
Physical land reclamation began in 1995, and Jurong Island was officially opened on 14 October 2000 by then Prime MinisterGoh Chok Tong.[2][3] From the 9.91 km2 land area of the original seven islets, as of completion of the land reclamation on 25 September 2009,[4][5] Jurong Island currently has a total land area of 30 km2.Penta-Ocean Construction was the major contractor and reclamation was completed 20 years ahead of schedule.[6]
Today, Jurong Island is home to many companies such asArkema,Arlanxeo,Afton Chemical,Air Liquide,Asahi Kasei,BASF,Celanese,Evonik,ExxonMobil,Infineum,DuPont,Mitsui Chemicals,Chevron Oronite,Linde,Mitsubishi Chemicals,SLNG,Shell,Singapore Petroleum CompanySingapore Refining Company,Stepan Company,Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore,The Polyolefin Company,Chevron Phillips,Mitsui Elastomer,Baker Hughes andSumitomo Chemical.
Clusters of gigantic cylindrical tanks amid a maze of pipelines now dot the island; investment totalledS$31 billion in 2010.[7] Resident companies produce a vast range of items, from petroleum products topolycarbonateresins used inCDs,DVDs andLCDTV panels, and super-absorbentpolymers that go intodiapers andsanitary napkins.
ExxonMobil, which has invested S$4 billion in arefinery andcracker plant, makes industrial andautomotivelubricants including a product used inFormula Oneracing cars. DuPont has invested S$1 billion, and manufacturesZytelnylon resin, a versatile engineering plastic used inautomobile components, appliances,wireinsulation, sporting gear and homefurnishings. Afton Chemical is constructing a new manufacturing facility, expected to become operational in January 2016, to produce petroleum additives for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets.[8]
Output for the chemicals cluster—which cover oil and gas, petrochemicals andspeciality chemicals—totalled S$66.5 billion in 2005, an increase of 31 per cent from 2004. This accounted for almost 32 per cent of production in Singapore'smanufacturing sector. Powered by the cluster, Singapore is currently one of the world's top threeoil refining centres despite not having a single drop ofcrude deposits.
Jurong Island's refineries process 1,300,000barrels (210,000 m3) of crude oil per day,[citation needed] turning it intopetrol,kerosene andjet fuel sold locally and abroad. Cracker plants break down the molecules of other oil-and gas-related substances such asnaphtha into additives that give unique characteristics to certain products, fromprinterinks to plasticmouldings,semiconductors andaircraft materials.
Apart from imported crude,natural gas fromIndonesia'sWest Natunafield arrives at Jurong Island via a 640 km undersea pipeline. Some of it is refined to provide a source of cleaner and cheaper fuel, while the rest is sent to crackers that make other petrochemical products. The country's first refilling station forcompressed natural gas (CNG) opened on Jurong Island in 2002. As most of the 2500+ cars running on CNG in Singapore are not allowed to enter the island because the drivers do not have the necessary security pass, four more CNG stations opened on the main island leading up to September 2009.
Jurong Island was gazetted as aProtected Place in October 2001 following theSeptember 11 attacks in the United States.[9] Access control is contracted to a private security company, while theSingapore Army helps to protect the island.[10] ThePolice Coast Guard also conducts regular patrols around the island to ensure no unauthorised vessels are allowed access within a restricted area of waters surrounding it.
Access to the island is limited to staff and visitors,[11] and they are issued with security passes. Other security restrictions include that any photographic equipment brought to the island must be declared. Without permission from Island Security it is forbidden to take photographs or videos on Jurong Island. Anyone getting caught taking pictures or videos is handed over to the police, and subsequently will have their Jurong Island pass confiscated and their permission to enter Jurong Island revoked.
Jurong Island and the southwestern waters were to be used for Exercise Northstar 8 from 21 to 25 November 2011. However, Exercise Northstar 8 was only carried out on 25 November 2011 after 4pm at Jurong Island, up to 7.30pm.
Jurong Island has twofire stations, and an amenity centre known asOasis@Sakra that houses afood court, a medicalclinic and a free-of-charge multi-storey carpark. The island also houses thePulau Seraya Power Station, Singapore's first offshorepower station, which was built in phases on the former Pulau Seraya since 1986. A 200 MW / 285 MWhlithium iron phosphategrid battery started in early 2023.[12]
The island has a network of pipelines that allows for seamless integration among companies. For example,Japan'sTeijin can make polycarbonates fromchlorine piped in directly fromCIFE andbisphenol A from Mitsui Chemicals elsewhere on the island. Red pipes carry water forfirefighting, and green pipes carrysea water for cooling. Huge silver pipes carrysteam, and small silver pipes bring product lines.
There are two major cargo jetties on Jurong Island, namely Sakra Jetty and Banyan Jetty. Sakra Jetty is managed and controlled by ExxonMobil.
Jurong Island is linked to the main island by a 2.3 kmcauseway known as theJurong Island Highway, opened in March 1999, build by Hyundai Construction. Several public bus services run between Jurong Island and the mainland, operated by Woodlands Transport.[13]
Construction work onJurong Rock Caverns (JRC), Singapore's first undergroundrockcaverns for storage of crude oil,condensates, naphtha and gas-oil, started on 8 February 2007.JTC Corporation has been appointed by the Singapore government to undertake the construction of JRC.[14]
Located beneath the seabed of Banyan Basin, off Jurong Island, JRC was completed in phases beginning in 2013, and was officially opened on 2 September 2014.[15] As a result of this first phase of work, the caverns reportedly have a storage capacity of 1.47 million cubic metres.[16] Phase 2, which has the potential to add another 1.32 million cubic metres, is being explored.
To raise its competitive edge, Singapore is moving to produce higher-value-added speciality products,[citation needed] including chemicals that would go into animalvaccines,animal feeds, consumer care items such ascosmetics and industrialenzymes to support thebiomedical sector. As part of this effort to move up thevalue chain, theInstitute of Chemical and Engineering Science (anA*STAR research institute) has been set up on Jurong Island.
There have also been plans to build a second causeway to link the Western end of Jurong Island Highway with Gul Road inJurong Industrial Estate on mainland Singapore, but these have been shelved. The investment earmarked for the second causeway has been re-allocated to the building of HDB flats at Western Water Catchment later in the decade.
