Singapore relies on oil (89%) and natural gas (11%) for energy (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2014)b. Due to the advantages of using natural gas over other fossil fuels, the use of natural gas is favored in Singapore. Also, Singapore intends to use only natural gas to generate electricity by 2024. Note that Singapore has no fossil fuel reserves of its own, and needs to import fossil fuels from other countries.
OIL
The pie-chart above shows the breakdown of oil (in %) imported by Singapore from other countries. Singapore, with its population of 5.5 million people, consumes about 1.3 million barrels of oil per day (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2014)b. To put these figures into perspective, Thailand, with its population of 67 million people consume only 1 million barrels of oil per day. This illustrates the high demand for energy in Singapore, and also points to a need to reduce the disproportionate amount of oil resources that Singapore consumes.
NATURAL GAS
Singapore imports 81% of its natural gas from Malaysia and Indonesia, its neighboring countries. Originally, all of Singapore’s natural gas was imported only from Malaysia and Indonesia through pipelines. However, with the opening of a LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal in 2013, Singapore is now able to import LNG from other countries, and need not depend solely on Malaysia and Indonesia for natural gas (Mulchand, 2013).