Singapore’s second LNG terminal to be 5 mil mt/year FSRU-based facility

Singapore’s second LNG terminal will be an offshore 5 million mt/year floating storage and regasification unit or FSRU located at Jurong Port, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said at the Singapore International Energy Week 2024 on Oct. 21.

An FSRU-based LNG terminal will provide the flexibility to move the facility around as per demand requirements and take up lesser land area than a conventional onshore LNG import facility. Land-based terminals are also typically more expensive and take longer to construct.

Singapore LNG (SLNG) Corp.’s plan to develop a second LNG terminal to meet growing demand for natural gas was announced a year ago, but no details had not been decided.

“The new terminal will have 5 million mt/year of throughput capacity, a 50% increase of our existing LNG capacity,” the minister said.

Separately, a senior SLNG executive said the FSRU ship contract had been awarded to Japan’s shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), but did not specify the size or duration of the agreement.

Other industry executives said the new FSRU is likely to require an associated long-term LNG contract, as the government is leaning towards locking in baseload supply for a majority of the volume and leaving only a smaller portion for the spot market. The exact duration a long-term contract could vary though, due to broader industry developments. The FSRU will also allow Singapore' to be flexible in its long-term energy transition and selection of fuel sources, they added.

Minister Gan also provided details about Singapore’s plans to set up a central gas entity, or Gasco, to centralize the procurement and supply of gas to the power sector.

“We will set up Gasco as a fully Government-owned company by the end of this financial year,” Gan said. “This approach will enable us to negotiate more favorable gas contracting terms, enter into longer-term gas contracts for more stable prices and supply, and procure gas from diverse sources to reduce concentration risk,” he added.

Hydrogen/Ammonia

Gan added the government has shortlisted two consortiums under its ammonia pilot program that will commence preliminary Front-End Engineering Design or FEED studies by the end of 2024.

“This pilot will allow us to gain valuable experience in managing low carbon ammonia supply chains,” he said.

Singapore had released its National Hydrogen Strategy around years ago for the use of hydrogen and in 2023, it had invited consortiums to participate in a Request for Proposal for a pilot project on Jurong Island to explore the use of low carbon ammonia for power generation and maritime bunkering.

The government has also launched the Low Carbon Energy Research (LCER) Funding Initiative and has allocated over S$180 million since 2020 to support research into low-carbon energy technologies, including hydrogen.

Earlier in 2024, it launched the Centre for Hydrogen Innovations at the National University of Singapore, the first in Southeast Asia to advance hydrogen research across the entire value chain.