(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
After eight years of construction, Singapore has officially opened a huge facility to store oil underground.
Known as the Jurong Rock Caverns, the facility is in the seabed, underneath an artificial island just off the country's main island.
Kristina Kukolja has the details.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
In tiny Singapore, land for any purpose is scarce.
Building the Jurong Rock Caverns at a cost of $1.7 billion was more expensive than building a storage facility on land.
But it frees up 60 hectares of land, the equivalent about 84 football fields, that can now be used for other purposes.
The Jurong Rock Caverns can store almost 1.5 million cubic metres of liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says Singapore needs to come up with innovative solutions to the problem of having a land mass of just over 700 square kilometres.
"Singapore's land constraint is a little bit like peak oil. It exists, there is a theoretical limit, but with ingenuity and determination and technology, that limit can be quite a way off yet, and as you approach it, hopefully we can push it further off into the future."
Mr Lee adds that Singapore will continue to develop its petrochemical industry, despite UN climate negotiations for a 2015 deal that aims to bind all nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"And we will develop the petrochemical industry because the industry provides good jobs for Singaporeans, because it contributes significantly to our economy. In fact, the chemicals industry comprises a third of our manufacturing output, and also, because we are determined to find all ways to make a living for ourselves in the world."
The Jurong Rock Caverns are about 150 metres underground, in the seabed under the artificial island of Jurong, a heavily secured area southwest of the main island of Singapore.
Scientist Teo Tiong Yong says there's no danger of oil leaking from the caverns to the surface.
"Because everywhere underground there are waters around, so we are making use of the water pressure underground to hold the oil within the caverns so that the oil will not leak out."
The Jurong Rock Caverns are the first facility of their type in Southeast Asia.
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