SINGAPORE: The new S$75 million Keppel-NUS Corporate Laboratory was launched in Singapore on Monday. One of its research aims is to develop technological solutions to meet the challenges of oil and gas exploration and production in harsh environments like the Arctic. It is the second corporate laboratory launched under a scheme by the National Research Foundation to enhance collaboration between universities and industries. The first - the Rolls-Royce@NTU Corporate Lab - was launched in July 2013. The Keppel-NUS Corporate Lab is the first involving a local company. The Arctic is rich in petroleum and mineral resources. But it is also a harsh environment where temperatures can dip to as low as minus 60 degrees. Getting to these resources is a challenge that can hopefully be overcome through more focused research efforts. Michael Chia, managing director (Marine and Technology) at Keppel Offshore & Marine, said: "It is an area where not a lot of experience has been gained so far. And ice is something which is quite unpredictable, especially even more so now with climate change... So we need to look at those instances whereby we can develop our structures to be able to sustain that kind of different environmental conditions." Currently, Keppel has icebreaker vessels operating in the Arctic, but it wants to build rigs that can operate there as well. It hopes to deploy arctic jack-up drilling rigs there by 2020. The Keppel-NUS Corporate Laboratory signifies deeper collaboration and synergy between industry and academia. This means that Keppel can bring industry-related challenges to the table to see if researchers can come up with solutions to them. For researchers it is also an opportunity for them to suss out how commercially viable their projects are. Other research areas at the new lab include refining current deepwater technology for oil and gas exploration and production, developing competencies to explore and exploit mineral resources in deep oceans in an environmentally-friendly way, and increasing productivity while reducing reliance on manpower in some shipyard activities such as welding, painting and operations in confined spaces. Professor Low Teck Seng, CEO of the National Research Foundation, said: "I think what is important for us in Singapore is to make sure the investments we have made in research and development get translated so that there is accrued benefit to Singapore and Singaporeans. "So this aspect of translation can only be effected if you bring companies together with our research performers, the universities and research institutes. So having this Keppel corporate lab in NUS is a very pro-active approach in seeing how we can actually catalyse and accelerate translation of technologies in a very important area for us, because Keppel is number one in certain areas of technology in the marine-offshore space." Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said at the launch that the new lab will add vibrancy to the marine and offshore industry in Singapore. Mr Teo, who is also chairman of the National Research Foundation, said: "We hope the Keppel-NUS collaboration will encourage other local companies to forge strategic alliances with our research performers, to do future-oriented, practical research that creates economic value for Singapore and good jobs for Singaporeans." The partnership between Keppel Corporation and NUS will involve 44 principal investigators, co-principal investigators and external collaborators. It will also create 54 new positions for research fellows and engineers and train some 30 PhD and Masters students in five years. Today, Singapore's marine and offshore industry contributes S$13 billion, or 1.6 per cent, to the gross domestic product, and hires some 20,000 Singaporeans and permanent residents, mainly in skilled jobs. The new lab will be based at the NUS Faculty of Engineering. www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-corporate-laboratory/899122.html

• published: 25 Nov 2013
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