(SINGAPORE) The drawn-out crawl to the dotted finishing line finally came to an end yesterday, with the main building contract for Singapore's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal being awarded to the Samsung C&T Corporation (Samsung).

Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG) announced yesterday that Samsung had beaten two other tenderers - CB&I and the WSKL Consortium - to win the contract for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the 30ha Jurong Island project.

The budget of the project, which is funded by the government, is $1.5 billion, of which $1 billion has been earmarked for the development of the terminal.

The remaining $500 million serves as a provision for the building of a second jetty on the premises of the terminal as well as other development costs related to designing and regulatory approvals.

Samsung - which is currently involved in two Downtown Line projects, two Marina Coastal Expressway projects and the Power Seraya project - won the contract for a sum that cannot be disclosed because it is 'commercially sensitive' information.

The South Korean firm won the contract because of its focus on efficiency, according to Neil McGregor, SLNG's executive director.

'Key to this was a very novel and efficient design, which minimised the footprint of the new terminal, thereby freeing up land within the site that SLNG can capitalise on to expand its business and the range of services it can provide in the future,' said Mr McGregor.

A separate contract for the management of the project was awarded to engineering firm Foster Wheeler Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, also for an undisclosed sum.

Plans for the LNG terminal have been in the works since 2006. PowerGas and GDF Suez had originally been appointed the project's developer, but they had run into financing difficulties during the turbulence of the credit crunch last year.

The Energy Market Authority had then set up SLNG to spearhead the project.

The terminal will have an initial capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per annum, with an option to expand to six million tonnes per annum or more.

At present, Singapore imports about six million tonnes per annum of piped natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia. The capacity of the LNG terminal could be used to meet new demand, as well as for LNG trading.

Currently, SLNG expects initial sales to end users to reach 1.5 million tonnes per annum.

The commercial contracts for the aggregation and sale of LNG initial volumes to end users and sale of terminal services are 'well-advanced and are fast nearing completion', according to Mr McGregor.

BG Group, the appointed LNG aggregator or sole buyer, has the exclusive franchise to supply up to three million tonnes per annum of LNG to Singapore or until 2023, whichever happens earlier.

Construction of the terminal will start in about six months and is slated to be completed in early-2013.

All parties appeared confident that they have seen the back of delays in the project.

'We fully expect to carry out the work on time, within budget, and to the highest standard of quality,' said Jeong Ki Chul, senior executive vice-president of Samsung, yesterday.