Singapore may deservedly be called the “Houston of Asia” in that its petroleum-related activities have placed the country at the heart of the Pacific Basin's energy economy. Singapore's refineries collectively constitute the world's third largest refining centre, after Rotterdam and Houston. The country's oil trading links extend from the Persian Gulf across to Northeast Asia, and from Australia to the U.S. West Coast. The Singapore spot market, focal point of oil trade in the Asia-Pacific time zone, has made Singapore-quoted prices the bench-mark for the region's petroleum transactions. In February 1989, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) will have launched its High Sulphur Fuel Oil contract, the first petroleum futures instrument east of Suez.

Singapore, the world's busiest port of call, also ranks as the world's largest fuel oil bunkering centre. It is one of the largest builders of offshore drilling rigs and the region's most comprehensive and competitive base for repair, maintenance, and logistics services for the offshore oil and gas industry. The country's petrochemical complex, although modest in scale by world standards, is an important exporter of ethylene-based products in the region. Other petroleum-related activities include independent petroleum storage and blending, brokerage of shipping services and marine insurance, warehousing of equipment and supplies, and the manufacture of parts and components for the petroleum sector.

The Singapore petroleum industry has received little academic attention despite its scale and importance with respect to both the domestic and regional economies. To date, there has not been a single comprehensive study published on the subject. The lack of industry-specific data and the confidential nature of many of the details of industry operations are undoubtedly part of the explanation. Description and analysis of various aspects of the Singapore petroleum sector are confined to trade and industry journals and the odd essay by observers in business publications. Consultants' reports and in-house studies conducted by large multinational oil companies and other industry participants, usually the best sources of oil industry data in Singapore, are naturally restricted to clients and proprietary parties.