The contract was awarded following a tender announced back in September 2023. The geophysical survey will be build on the information that had already been gathered by researchers from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the research centre Technical University of Munich at the Singapore Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (TUMCREATE), and Surbana Jurong at a study site near the Sembawang hot spring.
The research team, led by NTU’s Associate Professor Alessandro Romagnoli, estimates the temperature to go as high as 200 °C at 4 to 5 kilometers. The geothermal gradient, granite heat production, and the heat flow are measured to be higher than the global average (for non-volcanic regions).
More recent updates indicate that the team had now drilled to a depth of 1700 meters while still regularly collecting rock samples and taking temperature measurements at various depths. The team will continue to drill deeper, hoping to collect data that will complement the information that will be collected from the geophysical survey.
Surbana Jurong was selected from a total of nine companies that submitted bids for the tender. The EMA deemed the offer of Surbana Jurong as providing the best “value for money” despite other companies making less expensive bids.
Prof. Romagnoli remarked that the Singaporean government has been supportive of geothermal development, especially in the granting of approvals to conduct the deep exploratory drillings and the extension on the usage of land.
