Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the groundbreaking ceremony of Shell's high purity ethylene oxide (HPEO) plant

SPEECH BY MR LEE YI SHYAN SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY, AT THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY OF SHELL’S HIGH PURITY ETHYLENE OXIDE (HPEO) PLANT ON TUESDAY, 16 APRIL 2013, 11:55AM

Mr. Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Shell Chemicals,
Your Excellencies Mr Johannes Jansing, Ambassador for the Netherlands,
Mr Antony Phillipson, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom,

Distinguished guests,  Good Morning.

Welcome

1.        Firstly, let me thank Tzu Yang and Graham for inviting me to be part of this auspicious occasion to mark the groundbreaking for Shell’s new investments in specialty chemicals. Shell’s investments in the manufacturing facilities for a High Purity Ethylene Oxide (HPEO) plant, ethoxylation units, and expansion of the polyols plant reflect the broadening and deepening of value chains in Singapore.  As a result of these investments, our specialty chemical industry will benefit from increased synergies between Shell and other companies. In turn, the collective competitiveness of our petrochemical industry will be enhanced.

Shell-Singapore: A long-lasting and beneficial partnership

2.        Shell’s new investments also mark another significant milestone in its long-lasting and collaborative partnership with Singapore. Started in 1891, 122 years ago, Shell Singapore began with oil storage and trading activities on Pulau Bukom. In 1961, it started Singapore’s first refinery and held the distinct honor of being awarded Pioneer Certificate 001.  Over the past five decades, Shell’s operations in Singapore kept increasing. In a symbiotic way, Shell Singapore’s growth story mirrors Singapore’s own economic development. Together, we have become stronger and bigger.

3.        As Tzu Yang and Graham have just pointed out, Singapore has grown to become one of Shell’s global strategic nodes for supply, manufacturing and R&D in processes and products. The Shell Group in Singapore has both a regional focus and a global mandate.  This is similar to Singapore’s ambition to become a Global-Asia hub. As a result, Shell and Singapore have become strategic partners.  We will continue to invest in and prosper this public-private sector partnership for our mutual benefit. 

Commitment to improve our operating environment

4.   This is why we work closely with the industry in every area that matters to our collective competitiveness. On infrastructure, through the Jurong Island Version 2.0 initiative, we are looking at ways to enhance Jurong Island’s attractiveness by optimising tenants’ inter-connectedness and sharing of resources such as energy and water. We have also implemented novel storage options such as Jurong Rock Caverns, an underground storage facility which will help intensify our land use. 

5.      In the area of manpower development, we have continued to invest in skills upgrading so that Singapore can build up a strong talent pool that can drive the implementation of complex, high value-added projects.  We have put in place extensive manpower training programmes in schools and training institutions such as the Chemical Process Technology Centre (CPTC). This industry-scale petrochemical process plant enables trainees to experience real plant operations, in order to develop and enhance their application skills.

6.        In order to remain relevant to the industry, we have also placed significant focus and resources in innovation. Under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2015 masterplan, we have set aside S$1.35 billion of public research funds between 2011 and 2015 to encourage our public researchers to conduct research jointly with industry partners, through one-to-one collaborations or multi-party research consortia. For example, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR’s) research institutions have collaborated with several chemicals companies to co-develop technology in the areas of chemical catalysis and materials engineering. Incubator programs such as “Lab in RI” also contributes towards public-private sector partnership. 

Contributions of the Petrochemical and Specialty Chemicals Industries

7.        Back in 1990, when I was working in the EDB on the petrochemical cluster, we had a vision to amalgamate seven offshore islands into one. We figured that a combined land mass would allow a sizeable petrochemical cluster to develop. Today, I am pleased to note that an Integrated Energy and Chemicals Hub, comprising 100 companies, have established themselves on Jurong Island.  Although these companies come from all over the world, they are interconnected in a symbiotic and inter-dependent way, much like how Singapore is connected with the rest of the world. We seek to add value to each other so that together we prosper.

8.        Jurong Island today employs over 24,000 people. Approximately 75 percent of the workforce is made up of Singaporeans[1]. Jurong Island has created many quality and well-paying jobs for PMET Singaporeans in R&D, operations, logistics, maintenance and management support. Our Energy and Chemical cluster as a whole accounts for 1/3 of our manufacturing output. This sector is poised for further growth in the coming years. Going forward, the Singapore Government is committed to work with industry partners to raise the productivity levels and innovation capacity of the industry even further.

Conclusion

9.        In conclusion, let me say that Shell is one of the largest investors in Singapore. Today’s ground-breaking further reflects Shell’s confidence in the long term future of Singapore.  Shell is not just an investor, it is also an active sponsor and participant in the community, promoting causes such as education, youth enterprise, industrial safety and environmental sustainability.

10.   On this happy occasion, let me congratulate the management and staff of the Shell Group of companies for your many outstanding and multi-facted contributions to Singapore.

11.   Thank you.

[1]

www.singstat.gov.sg