Petrochemicals and polymers in Singapore
- On the record
- 12
- Sector
- Energy & Chemicals
Steam cracking of naphtha into olefins and aromatics, and the downstream plants that convert them into polymers and intermediates — polyethylene, polypropylene, synthetic rubbers, MMA/PMMA, phenol/BPA and styrenics.
Buyers read a producer on product grade, capacity, feedstock integration and technology licence. The companies on the record holding this capability are collected on the Singapore Industry Index’s list of Leading oil & gas companies in Singapore.
Petrochemicals are the value-add layer on top of refining — the steam crackers that split naphtha into ethylene and propylene, the aromatics units, and the downstream plants that convert those building blocks into polymers and intermediates: polyethylene, polypropylene, synthetic rubbers, MMA/PMMA, phenol/bisphenol-A, styrenics and elastomers. Jurong Island concentrates this cluster — a ~3,500-hectare estate hosting 100-plus energy & chemicals companies — and the olefins base is anchored by three producers: ExxonMobil (1.9 million tonnes a year of ethylene), the ex-Shell Bukom cracker now under Aster (1.1 million tonnes), and PCS's two naphtha crackers. Most Jurong Island polymer and intermediate output — PE, PP, MMA, phenol/BPA, elastomers, styrenics — is exported across Asia-Pacific. The buyer reads a producer on product line and grade, capacity (kilotonnes a year), feedstock integration, and technology licence.
The field is a dense population of MNC producers with world-scale Jurong Island plants, and its ownership has churned markedly. Downstream of the crackers sit: INEOS Phenol (the ex-Mitsui phenol/BPA chain, over 1 million tonnes a year), Mitsui Elastomers (TAFMER, 345 kt/yr), Asahi Kasei (solution SBR for fuel-efficient tyres), Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates and Sumitomo Chemical (MMA/PMMA), Denka (styrenics at Seraya, acetylene black at Merbau), Celanese (VAE emulsions), The Polyolefin Company (Cosmothene LDPE, Cosmoplene PP) and ARLANXEO (butyl rubber, now Aramco-owned). The structural shift is a China-led global overcapacity glut squeezing commodity margins — pushing ExxonMobil to idle a cracker and driving consolidation, while ownership migrates from Western majors to Asian and Gulf players. These are MNC producers; for E&C production, the plant operators are the record.
Companies with this capability in Singapore
Listed alphabetically. Order does not indicate ranking.
A Jurong Island butyl and halobutyl rubber plant for tyre inner-liners and pharmaceutical and consumer uses, now wholly owned by Saudi Aramco (formerly LANXESS).
A solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) plant in the Tembusu district for fuel-efficient tyres, rated at about 130 kt a year; a related Asahi Kasei Plastics operation compounds engineering plastics at Sakra.
The former Shell Pulau Bukom refinery and Jurong Island Energy & Chemicals Park — a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery with a 1.1-million-tonne ethylene cracker — now owned and operated by CAPGC, a Chandra Asri and Glencore joint venture, after Shell’s exit. Produces transport fuels, base oils, bitumen and base chemicals; Aster Polymer Solutions makes polyethylene resins.
A Jurong Island vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) emulsions unit serving paints, coatings, adhesives and construction.
Runs three Singapore plants: acetylene black for batteries and cables at Merbau, polystyrene and styrenic resins at Seraya (among the world’s largest continuous-polymerisation facilities), and fused-silica filler and spherical alumina for semiconductor encapsulation at Tuas.
Runs Singapore's largest refining-and-chemicals complex on Jurong Island (Pioneer Road and Pulau Ayer Chawan) at 592,000 barrels a day, integrated with a 1.9-million-tonne-a-year ethylene steam cracker, the world's largest lubricant base-oil plant (about 51,900 barrels a day of Group II) and around 440 MW of cogeneration, plus a large fuels-and-feedstocks supply-and-trading function and a resid-upgrade facility making specialty base stocks.
A Jurong Island phenol chain (the former Mitsui Phenols) with over one million tonnes a year of total capacity — cumene 410 kt, phenol 310 kt, acetone 185 kt and bisphenol-A 150 kt.
A world-scale "Alpha" MMA (methyl methacrylate) monomer plant at Sakra on Jurong Island, formerly Lucite International.
A Jurong Island plant producing TAFMER alpha-olefin copolymer elastomers — used in solar encapsulants, packaging, footwear and automotive — at about 345 kt a year after an expansion.
Singapore’s first petrochemical complex, at Ayer Merbau on Jurong Island, running two naphtha crackers and supplying ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene and xylene to downstream producers.
A Sakra facility producing MMA monomer (around 53 kt a year) and SUMIPEX PMMA (around 50 kt a year).
A Jurong Island producer of LDPE and EVA under the Cosmothene brand and polypropylene under Cosmoplene.
ENQUIRE
Not sure which supplier?
Tell the Singapore Industry Index what you need — this enquiry is tagged to Petrochemicals and polymers — and we'll point you to the companies on the record that do it. To reach one company directly, enquire from its profile above.
Your enquiry is on its way.
The Singapore Industry Index has it and will be in touch.