Esso’s refinery opens at Pulau Ayer Chawan

Esso’s refinery at Pulau Ayer Chawan, which is today part of Jurong Island, was opened by then Finance Minister Hon Sui Sen on 19 February 1971.^[1] Esso was the fourth foreign petroleum firm after Shell, Mobil and British Petroleum to set up in Singapore and contributed to the island’s establishment as a leading oil refinery hub.^[2]

Esso began its Singapore operations in 1893 selling kerosene to homes.^[3] It later ventured into providing storage facilities for bunker fuels as well as the retailing and distribution of petroleum products.^[4] Esso entered into the oil refinery business in Southeast Asia after setting up its first oil refinery in Port Dickson, Malaysia, in 1964.^[5]

By 1965, plans were underway to build an oil refinery in Singapore,^[6] which had grown in importance as a centre for oil refinery after being bolstered by the presence of major oil companies – Shell (1961), British Petroleum (1964), Mobil (1966) – and a demand for oil fuelled by the Vietnam War.^[7]

Esso had originally intended to build the oil refinery plant on Pulau Blakang Mati (present-day Sentosa) but the plan fell through when the government redesignated the site for the development of tourism and recreational facilities.^[8] Pulau Ayer Chawan, an island one mile (about 1.6 kilometres) offshore from the Jurong industrial complex, was offered to the company instead.^[9] Esso agreed to the proposed site and on 20 July 1968, Esso Singapore Pte Ltd was formed. The company formally announced its plans to build a refinery at Pulau Ayer Chawan on 24 September 1968^[10] and work on clearing the 500 acres (about 2.02 sq km) of government-leased land began the following month.^[11] In 1969, construction of the refinery commenced.^[12]

At the time of its opening in February 1971,  the S$200-million project boasted one of the most modern plants in the world with a capacity to produce 81,000 barrels of oil a day.  It was then the largest single American investment in Singapore.^[13]

References
1. Single largest U.S. investment in S’pore. (1971, February 19). The Straits Times, Esso Refinery Opening Supplement, p.1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Pulau Ayer Chawan for $50mil oil refinery. (1968, April 18). The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. Esso Singapore Pte Ltd. (1993). Burning bright: 100 years of Esso in Singapore (p. 11). Singapore: Esso Singapore. Call no.: RSING q338.76655095957 ESS.
4. Esso Singapore Pte Ltd, 1993, p. 15.
5. Ng, W. H. (2012). Singapore, the energy economy: From the first refinery to the end cheap oil, 1960–2010 (p. 15). Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge. Call no.: RSING 338.27282095957 NG; Tengku to open and dedicate $45m. plant. (1964, March 7). The Straits Times, Straits Times Supplement, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Jones – No. 1 on Chawan. (1971, February 19). The Straits Times, Esso Refinery Opening Supplement, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
7. Ng, 2012, pp. 11–12, 16–17.
8. Ng, 2012, p. 16; Tan, K. C. (Interviewer). (1982, August 31). Oral history interview with Albert Winsemius [Transcript of Casette Recording No. 000246/18/10]. Retrieved November 27, 2013, from National Archives of Singapore website: http://archivesonline.nas.sg/
9. Fourth S’pore refinery: $200 mil project by Esso. (1968, September 25). The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
10. Esso Singapore Pte Ltd, 1993, p. 27.
11. The Straits Times, 19 Feb 1971, Esso Refinery Opening Supplement, p. 1; The Straits Times, 25 Sep 1968, p. 11.
12. Esso Singapore Pte Ltd, 1993, p. 29.
13. The Straits Times, 19 Feb 1971, Esso Refinery Opening Supplement, p. 1.