Jurong Island Oil and Gas Firms Making Green Shift as Sector Decarbonises
On Jurong Island, gas and chemicals storage provider Advario Asia-Pacific has been expanding beyond its fossil fuel focus towards greener pastures, by investing in infrastructure to store cleaner fuels.
The company has set aside tank space equivalent to 34 Olympic-size swimming pools to store and blend sustainable aviation fuel – a less pollutive alternative to jet fuel.
The Dutch company is one of several companies in the emissions-intensive energy and chemicals hub of Jurong Island that are starting to make the green shift.
Around a third of Singapore’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the refining and petrochemicals sector, with over 100 companies on Jurong Island.
Despite the geopolitical headwinds confronting climate action in some countries, recent developments have also pointed to the inevitable transformation of this pollutive sector, which companies like Advario are taking notice of.
“Globally, tightening climate regulations and rising demand for sustainable products are accelerating decarbonisation,” said Singapore’s industrial developer, JTC Corporation (JTC), and the Economic Development Board (EDB) in response to queries from The Straits Times.
For example, Singapore’s carbon tax levied on large emitters here is on the upward trajectory, and could go up from the current $25 per tonne to between $50 and $80 per tonne by 2030.
The European Union is also implementing a regulation that makes companies importing certain emissions-intensive goods into Europe pay for the carbon emissions created from producing these products.
Several multinational companies with a Singapore presence have started to feel the implications of these trends.
In 2024, oil giant Shell sold its energy and chemicals park on Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island, as part of measures to boost its overall profitability and lower its carbon footprint worldwide.
As crude prices tumbled in 2025, some global oil companies including Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil have announced thousands of job cuts. On Oct 1, ExxonMobil announced that it plans to reduce 10 per cent to 15 per cent of its workforce in Singapore by the end of 2027.
The energy and chemicals sector is a global industry, and Singapore is an open economy with leading positions in refining, trading and chemical production, said EDB’s vice-president of chemicals and materials, Ms Kelly Lai.
“Due to the global petrochemical downcycle, companies are reviewing their footprints globally, and we are not sheltered from these global developments,” she said.
“With any mature industry, we would expect to see some churn, and naturally then reinvestment and rejuvenation.”
As the energy and chemicals sector transforms, it will need to reimagine its business models, innovate processes, and adopt low-carbon technologies, JTC and EDB added.
Decarbonisation is a key part of Singapore’s growth strategy for the energy and chemicals sector – it enables companies to stay competitive and capture new markets, said EDB and JTC.
Companies on the island are combining immediate measures, such as improving the energy efficiency of industrial processes and deploying solar panels, with those that will take a longer time to scale and commercialise.
Advario is attempting to do this by diversifying its business model beyond fossil fuels to include low-carbon options, such as sustainable aviation fuel.
Its director of business development, Mr Kevin Jen, said: “With increasing societal awareness and stakeholder pressure, demand for traditional hydrocarbons is expected to decline gradually, driven in part by the wider adoption of electric vehicles, as well as transitional fuels in both the maritime and aviation sectors.”
Fossil fuels include naturally occurring compounds of hydrocarbons. While greener fuels are not yet commercially mature, the Dutch company, being family-owned, is able to take a longer-term perspective – one that balances sustainability with commercial discipline, Mr Jen added.