Down The Rabbit Hole: What’s with this abandoned factory in Woodlands?

Opened in 1963, the former Shell Woodlands North Lube Oil Blending Plant was once a powerhouse of Singapore's industrial boom. ST PHOTO: TARYN NG

Sarah Stanley

UPDATED Apr 12, 2025, 03:33 PM

Thanks for sharing!

SINGAPORE – From certain vantage points along Woodlands Waterfront Promenade at the northernmost point of Singapore, towering green industrial tanks peek through gaps in the dense foliage.

The same tangle of overgrown shrubbery separates Admiralty Road West – which faces Johor Bahru – from a roughly 5ha plot of land, or around the size of 12 football pitches, where an abandoned factory sits quietly behind lock and chain. 

Unassuming as it is now, the sprawling complex – known as the former Shell Woodlands North Lube Oil Blending Plant – was once a powerhouse of Singapore’s industrial boom in the 1960s. 

As someone who rarely visits Woodlands, except for the occasional leisure trip across the Causeway, the site was never on my radar.