Petrochemical Industries
Today, Jurong Island is home to many companies such as LANXESS, BASF, BP, Celanese, ExxonMobil, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Chevron Oronite, Shell, Singapore Petroleum Company and Sumitomo Chemical.
Clusters of gigantic cylindrical tanks amid a maze of pipelines now dot the island; investment has totalled S$31 billion in 2010. Resident companies produce a vast range of items, from petroleum products to polycarbonate resins used in CDs, DVDs and LCD TV panels, and super absorbent polymers that go into diapers and sanitary napkins.
ExxonMobil, which has invested S$4 billion in a refinery and cracker plant, makes industrial and automotive lubricants including a product used in Formula One racing cars. DuPont invested S$1 billion, and manufactures Zytel nylon resin, a versatile engineering plastic used in automobile components, appliances, wire insulation, sporting gear and home furnishings.
Output for the chemicals cluster—which cover oil and gas, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals—totaled 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's manufacturing sector. Powered by the cluster, Singapore is currently one of the world's top three oil refining centres despite not having a single drop of crude deposits.
Jurong Island's refineries process 1,300,000 barrels (210,000 m3) of crude oil per day, turning it into petrol, kerosene and jet fuel sold locally and abroad. Cracker plants break down the molecules of other oil-and gas-related substances such as naphtha into additives that give unique characteristics to certain products, from printer inks to plastic mouldings, semiconductors and aircraft materials.
Apart from imported crude, natural gas from Indonesia's West Natuna field 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 for compressed 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 until September 2009.
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