How Singapore built a massive industrial powerhouse by stitching together seven small islands

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Jurong Island is a feat of engineering that transformed seven small, palm-fringed islets into a global energy hub. Despite lacking any domestic crude oil, this man-made island processes over 1.5 million barrels of oil daily, serving as a critical pillar of Singapore's economy and a restricted, high-security industrial fortress.

Before it became an industrial titan, the area was a collection of quiet islands home to Malay-style stilt houses and fishing villages. In the 1960s, the government began courting major oil companies to establish facilities on these islands to drive economic growth. By the 1980s, as industrial land on the Singapore mainland grew scarce, authorities conceived a bold plan: join the southern islands into one colossal landmass. JTC Corporation was appointed to lead this massive reclamation project, which officially began in 1995.

The result was a total land area expansion from 991 hectares to over 3,500 hectares by the time reclamation finished in 2009. This project, completed nearly two decades ahead of schedule, created a seamless, integrated ecosystem. Today, the island is a maze of pipelines and storage tanks where companies like ExxonMobil, BASF, and Mitsui Chemicals operate in close proximity. This integration allows for unique efficiencies, such as piping raw materials directly between facilities to manufacture everything from high-performance resins to automotive lubricants.

The island is not just a surface-level facility; it also houses the Jurong Rock Caverns, Singapore's first underground storage for crude oil and gas, located beneath the seabed of Banyan Basin. Because of its vital role in national infrastructure, the island has been a restricted, protected place since 2001. Access is strictly controlled, and the area is monitored by the Singapore Armed Forces and the Police Coast Guard. It remains a testament to how a nation with no natural oil deposits can leverage strategic planning and infrastructure to become one of the world's top three oil refining centres.

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