Figure 2.1 shows the geographical location of key installations of the Singapore energy sector. The energy economy of Singapore is essentially petroleum-based. There are two aspects to this. The first or “demand side” concerns the use of energy for final consumption needs and as inputs into the production process by households, firms, and the public sector. The second or “supply side” concerns the large heterogeneous group of primarily foreign private-sector enterprises which collectively constitute the Singapore petroleum industry, providing a wide range of petroleum-related products and services largely for the export market.

The first section of this chapter, directed towards the demand side of the energy economy, summarizes salient attributes of the growth and configuration of domestic energy demand. The second section, looking at the supply side, gives an overview of the Singapore petroleum industry. The impact of the world oil market on both aspects of the Singapore energy economy is examined in the third section. The chapter concludes with a discussion of energy policy in Singapore.

The Pattern of Domestic Demand

Singapore possesses no conventional energy resources and its primary energy needs are met entirely by imported fuels, almost exclusively petroleum and its products. As an urbanized island-state without an agricultural sector, Singapore's consumption of non-commercial energy materials is insignificant. Coal, the only other primary energy source utilized, is also insignificant to Singapore's energy requirements. The country's petroleum consumption constitutes, in effect, total primary energy demand.

The growth and pattern of energy use in Singapore has been dictated by the specific circumstances of a small, equatorial city-state which has undergone rapid economic growth. Singapore's energy consumption grew rapidly between 1960 and 1980. Consumption in 1980 was over ten times as large as that of 1960 if refinery fuel and loss and international aviation are included. Excluding the two use categories, 1980 consumption was almost seven times that of 1960 (Ang 1987, p. 267).