JTC Corporation (JTC) announced Wednesday that it has awarded the Jurong Rock Caverns (JRC) operatorship to Banyan Caverns Storage Services Pte Ltd (BCSS), a consortium comprising Vopak Terminals Singapore Pte Ltd (45 percent), Geostock SAS (35 percent) and Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd (20 percent). The operatorship will be for a period of 15 years and has a contractual value of about $157.3 million (SGD 200 million). The award of the operatorship is a key milestone for the first phase of the Jurong Rock Caverns – South-east Asia and Singapore’s first subterranean hydrocarbon storage facility located at Jurong Island.

The operator will manage, operate and maintain the ancillary and underground facilities at the JRC and will not handle the sales and marketing of storage services of the JRC. These facilities include the five oil storage caverns, underground tunnels, Mechanical, Electrical and Instrumentation (MEI) equipment such as fire-fighting and ventilation systems, and supporting facilities such as the jetties which will transport the oil to and from the JRC.

The three parties in the BCSS consortium bring together a rich combination of experience, competency, expertise and resources to operate the JRC. Vopak Terminals Singapore Pte Ltd is an independent bulk liquids storage company with over 30 years of experience in Singapore. It currently operates four tank terminals with a total storage capacity of over 105.94 million cubic feet (3 million cubic meters).

Geostock SAS is an international engineering firm with close to 50 years of experience and know-how in the design, construction supervision and operation-maintenance of all types of underground storage facilities for a wide variety of products including liquid, liquefied and gaseous hydrocarbons. Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd has experience in the full range of services for aboveground bulk liquid storage facilities including front-end engineering design, design-and-build for jetties and operation buildings, pre-commissioning and commissioning works and project management.

The process to select a capable and qualified operator, involved a rigorous two-stage Request-for-Proposal (RFP). In the first stage of pre-qualification, the RFP respondents were required to submit business proposals and were shortlisted based on criteria such as financial stability, experience, capability and track record. Shortlisted RFP respondents were then invited to submit their proposals in the second stage during which each respondent was then evaluated based on individual merits, with emphasis on the fee as well as technical, commercial and legal propositions.

Commenting on behalf of the consortium, Managing Director of Vopak Terminals Singapore, Teo Seow Ling said, “This is a milestone project for Singapore and for the consortium partners, and we are delighted to be awarded the operatorship contract by JTC. Leveraging on the strengths of each partner, we are optimistic that the consortium will bring value to the safe operation of the JRC. Following the award, we will be transferring employees from the consortium companies to fill key positions in BCSS.”

This is the second contract which JTC has awarded for the first phase of JRC. In September 2013, JTC awarded the contract for the supply of nitrogen to Air Products Singapore Pte Ltd. The nitrogen is an inert gas and will be used as a blanketing gas for the oil storage caverns for safety purposes. The completion of Phase 1 is scheduled for the second half of 2014.