With its excellent geographic location on the world's busiest shipping routes, Singapore is home to the world's busiest container port. This bustle, however, largely bypassed a group of islands, namely Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kecil, Pulau Sakra and Pulau Seraya, just south of Singapore, off Jurong.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, three oil companies decided to house their facilities on the islands - Esso in Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore Refinery Company in Pulau Merlimau and Mobil Oil in Pulau Pesek.These three oil companies became the pioneers of Singapore's petroleum industry. In the 1980s, when the Singapore Government identified chemicals as a sector that could contribute significantly to the nation's economic growth, it became the natural choice to develop these islands into a petrochemicals hub.
In 1991, JTC was appointed the agent for the development of the Jurong Island project. Based on the needs and feedback from the industrialists, JTC planned and coordinated with the various government agencies in delivering the necessary infrastructure and services to the island, namely through the development of roads, drains, utilities and others.
Today, Jurong Island is home to over 88 leading petroleum, petrochemical, specialty chemical and supporting companies with more than S$24billion in fixed assets investment on Jurong Island. Industry luminaries such as ExxonMobil and Shell have already established a strong presence on Jurong Island and are poised to reap the benefits of comprehensive infrastructure and production synergies from this unique cluster development.
