SINGAPORE'S decision, as confirmed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to build a second LNG terminal, even as it continues to expand the Singapore LNG (SLNG) facility on Jurong Island bodes well for the Republic, from the standpoint of both energy security and opportunity.

As it is, just 10 months after the arrival here of the first commercial shipment of liquefied natural gas from Equatorial Guinea, SLNG is preparing to embark on its next growth phase. This will take it beyond its primary role as an LNG regasification facility, enabling Singapore to import gas from anywhere to help fuel power plants (90 per cent of which are gas-fuelled) and industries here. LNG has crucially boosted energy security by adding to, hitherto, just piped gas supplies from neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia.

With a just-completed third tank boosting its regasification and storage capacity to six million tonnes per annum - or double that needed by initial aggregator BG Group - the SLNG terminal is now opening its doors to other spot or short-term users such as the gas producers and international traders who have set up base here in anticipation of a regional LNG hub emerging.