Singapore is a politically and economically stable small island city-state situated in Southeast Asia. While Liberia was not even listed on the 2006 UN Human Development Index, Singapore ranked number 25 out of the 177 countries listed, attesting to its prosperity and high development levels (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2006, p.
283). Additionally, the Globalization Index has ranked Singapore the most globalized economy for a number of years (Bellows, 2009; Statista, 2019).
Singapore, a former British Colony, achieved autonomy and self-rule in 1959. Since then, Singapore has had a strict one-party meritocracy. Singapore’s landmass is only about
720 m2 hosting a population of 5.7 million people, many of whom are foreign nationals (Department of Statitsics Singapore, n.d.). Singapore has prospered to become a highly developed economy and one of the countries with the highest GDP per capita (Bellows, 2009). The economy is based on high-skill labour, innovative technology and serving as a hub for maritime trade routes. Bellows attributes Singapore's success to two factors: Firstly, Singapore is located on a highly advantageous spot between South and East Asia. With its deep-water topography, Singapore has one of the best ports in the world and the best in Southeast Asia (Bellows, 2009). Secondly, a non-oppressive one-party meritocracy has ruled Singapore for decades, espousing efficiency and effectiveness while also vigilantly
denouncing corruption (Bellows, 2009).
Singapore is ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse yet a highly Westernized society (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 506). The city-state has a large Chinese population, with Indonesian, Malay and Indian minorities, as well as Europeans and Eurasians (Bellows, 2009;Tan & Tan, 2012, s. 505). In other words, Singapore is a geographically small and stable melting pot with multiracial harmony, interfaith coexistence and strict order (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 505). Bellows hails Singapore as one of the “most stable and successful political systems in the world today” due to its social and economic advances, evolving pluralism, and meritocracy (2009). Singapore is a safe and reliable country to invest and conduct business in;
it is stable, boasts first-class infrastructure, high-skilled labour and policies conducive to foreign investments and private enterprise (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 500). Singapore relies on foreign direct investments from multinational corporations, which are mostly “…skill-intensive, high-technology industries such as chemicals, oil, shipbuilding and repairing, precision engineering, and electronics” (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 501). This could make Singapore vulnerable to swings the international economy.
Another issue facing Singapore is a small island and city-state is scarcity of land. In Singapore, about half of the land has been dedicated to residential, industrial and commercial use (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 504). Land is precious and efforts to attract businesses and
industries will therefore go hand in hand with land use and the availability of land. Oil exports have been a mainstay of Singapore's trade (Tan & Tan, 2012, p. 495). Oil storage is land-intensive, and for a small city-state, very costly when considering the price and value of land.
The need to rethink and redistribute land utilization from low-value to high-value industries stimulated the idea of storing oil underground.
4.3.1 Jurong Rock Caverns
The Jurong Rock Caverns (JRC) is a highly innovative initiative in order to free up land and simultaneously improve Singapore’s liquid hydrocarbon storage capacity. JRC is the first commercial and hitherto deepest known, subterranean rock cavern facility. The JRC is the first subterranean oil storage facility in the sub-region, but not the first underground storage facility in Singapore. An underground ammunition storage facility for the Singapore armed forces opened in 2008.
The Jurong Rock Caverns project commenced in 2006, The first caverns were operational from 2014 and the project closed in 2019. The caverns are located 130 meters beneath the Banyan Basin seabed (Engineer What's Next, n.d.), are nine stories high and consist of 9 kilometers of tunnels in addition to shafts and piping. During the construction, 3.5 million cubic meters of rocks were dug out and removed from site (Engineer What's Next, n.d.). Phase 1 of the project was to build storage for 1.47 million cubic meters of liquid hydrocarbons, such as crude oil, gas oil, condensate and naphtha (Multiconsult, n.d.). Given the scarcity of land in Singapore, these subterranean storage facilities free up valuable land for high-value manufacturing. In fact, the JRC storage facility translates to land savings of about sixty hectares, which could be used for higher value activities (Engineer What's Next, n.d.).
Building such an innovative structure 130 meters under the seabed does not come without risks. Engineer What’s Next, a Singapore Government Agency website, informs that
“One of the major challenges is the unpredictability of geological conditions resulting in potential poor ground conditions as well as significant water seepages encountered during excavation works. Extensive mitigating measures to address this risk have been implemented”
(Engineer What's Next, n.d.). However, once in use, the subterranean storage of
petrochemicals enhances safety and security and reduces the impact of industrial accidents on surrounding areas on Jurong Island. The Jurong Rock Cavern project is conceived of as an engineering feat and has received numerous awards and accolades (JTC Corporation, n.d.).
4.3.2 Stakeholders
Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) is the main stakeholder, and the client, in the highly complex JRC project. JTC Corporation is a Singapore Government Agency established in
1968 to spearhead, pioneer, plan, promote and develop Jurong Island for industrial infrastructure (JTC Corporation, n.d.).
In 2006. Multiconsult won the Project Manager contract for the JRC project, together with SINTEF and Tritech, a Singaporean company. This trio was hired to provide project management onsite, as well as administrative and technical supervisory teams, represent the client JTC Corporation onsite, at site investigations, basic engineering and follow up of the various contracts for storage caverns, access shafts, jetties, process areas and pipe routings (Multiconsult, n.d.). Moreover, Multiconsult performed the following roles and
responsibilities: as project manager, planning manager, contract manager, technical review, project management, and geotechnical, mechanical and piping engineering (Multiconsult, n.d.). There also a number of contractors involved who built the caverns and shaft. The biggest contractor was Hyundai.
Now that the contexts and projects have been presented, it is possible to examine the data collected through the interviews. The following chapter will explore the project risk profiles, risk management approaches, risk tools and methods used, and varying approaches to risk.
5 Empirical findings
The following section will provide insight into the risk profiles for the two projects and how risks were managed. Moreover, this chapter will compare and contrast risk management practices and unearth to what extent stakeholder and cultural perspectives have played in risk management and mitigation.