PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Opening of the Shell Eastern Petrochemical Complex

Mr Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc
Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I congratulate Shell on the opening of the Shell Eastern Petrochemical Complex (SEPC). I attended SEPC’s groundbreaking ceremony four years ago. Happy to join you again to celebrate its successful completion

Despite the global economic recession last year, project has been completed on time. I thank the project managers for their hard work and perseverance, and Shell for its commitment and confidence in Singapore.

Shell has a long and illustrious history in Singapore. It had its first trading post here in 1891, almost 120 years ago. They then expanded operations to cover manufacturing, trading, finance and treasury activities. The first Shell refinery in the 1960s helped to launch the energy and chemical industry in Singapore. Today, Singapore is not only a major manufacturing centre for Shell, but also its base to serve the region and the world. Singapore is the regional HQ for both Upstream (e.g. Exploration & Production) and Downstream (e.g. Refining, Petrochemicals), and the global HQ for Shell’s Marine Products business unit, and more to come.

Singapore and Shell have enjoyed a fruitful partnership. Both take the long view. We try to look beyond cyclical ups and downs, and make long term moves to maximise our value and cooperation, hence our similar responses to the crisis last year. We both took strong steps to tackle our challenges, and we also used the opportunity to step back, review our strategies and chart a new way forward.

Singapore formed the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC). Based on ESC report, we are focusing on productivity for our next stage of development. All groups – employers and unions, government and people, are moving forward on this together

Shell focussed on reducing cost and sharpening its operational performance. They made key investments in assets and technologies, and positioned itself for growth, especially in emerging markets.

SEPC is a key project. It will be Shell’s largest integrated oil and petrochemicals manufacturing hub. It comprises three new facilities – the cracker and butadiene unit on Bukom and MEG (mono-ethylene glycol) plant on Jurong Island, and the existing refinery on Bukom — modified and upgraded. The complex achieves a new level of integration for the industry. The new cracker integrated with refinery on Bukom will improve production efficiency and responsiveness. Products can be transferred directly via sub-sea pipelines to Jurong Island, to feed Shell’s MEG plant and other facilities. This setup enables Shell Downstream to achieve a new level of production, performance and flexibility, to serve the Asian market.

The complex benefits Jurong Island, brining a new source of feedstock to Jurong Island. It will catalyse a new wave of high-value downstream investments in chemical industry, attracting expected investments of more than S$2 billion in fixed assets from leading chemical companies.

Singapore is committed to support the growth of the energy and chemical industry. It is an important part of our economy with an annual output of almost S$60 billion, or about 1/3 of Singapore’s total manufacturing output. But it also produces a significant amount of CO2. Hence the Government is tracking the UNFCCC talks, and how an international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions would impact Singapore. We will strive to safeguard our interests in the talks, together with other countries which share these interests and also work with industry to improve emissions standards, and help it to remain competitive and viable here.

We have also launched the “Jurong Island version 2.0” initiative, a Whole-of-government effort, in partnership with industry. It will focus on enhancing both competitiveness and sustainability, developing technology solutions to save resources like energy, carbon, water and land, e.g. tapping on waste heat to power production processes, and converting "waste" CO2 into useful products, thus creating more value and reducing the carbon footprint.

I look forward to Shell’s leadership and contribution in our effort. Today marks yet another key milestone in our partnership. Singapore will continue to support Shell and other investors by creating the best business conditions. I wish you every success in this and future ventures.