Vacation in Rome? Or on That Oil Rig?

September 17, 2015

Nope, I am not paid to advertise. Though , if you want to slip me some dollars, I would not say, la’.

Dateline 2015-08-15, New York Times:

IN the next several years, thousands of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs, many of them built during a global construction boom in the 1970s and ’80s, will reach retirement age and require decommissioning. Countries will have to decide whether to sink, remove or repurpose them.

While few proposals have been put in practice, there is no shortage of ideas for alternative uses of the platforms: supermax prisons, private homes, scuba schools, fish farms, windmill stations.

Unlike earlier generations of offshore rigs, which tended to be fewer, smaller and closer to shore, the ones being retired now are bigger, more numerous and spread much more broadly across the globe. Most of these retirement-ready platforms are too old for heavy industrial use, like drilling, but not necessarily old enough to demand full removal.

…

 

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Taylors Engineering Fair 2015 – Judging

September 16, 2015

I was honoured to be a judge at this event (only ChemEng poster, mind you). Second year running I’ve done this, so can you consider me a regular?

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IEM Shout Out – One-Day Workshop on “Essential Soft Skills for An Engineer to Fast Track the Career Ladder”

September 15, 2015

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day seminar on the 29th September , 2015. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. The course will be presented by Ir. Low Chew Eow (Rocky). Those who want to figure out why there aren’t communicating as efficiently as they should, attend

The seminar will address some of the important soft skills needed to be acquired and sharpened such as:
–  Communication skills
–  Good attitudes to have and to focus on
–  Producing high quality e-mail
–  E-mail ethics
–  Reporting skills to various stakeholders
–  Planning skills
–  Task identifications and delegation skills

Ir. Low Chew Eow (Rocky) graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1990. He has more than 24 years of working experience in various roles. He is appointed as Industry Advisor of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Faculty of Engineering and Science.

He is currently the Head of Package Equipment Department in Technip Consultant (M) Sdn. Bhd. He is also the Member of Expert Network specializing in Pneumatic Conveying System within the Technip group. He has presented talks at the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia.

Register here, or download the form here.

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Posted by Wata

IEM Shout Out – Technical Visit to Chocolate Museum by Fidani

September 15, 2015

This is a shout out for the IEM. My technical division will be hosting a trip to Fidani. It will be a ‘technical’ visit (hint, hint) on the 28th September, 2015. You will be anointed with 2 CPD / PDP hours.

Chocolate Museum by Fidani is proudly owned and operated by DR Group Holdings Sdn Bhd, a diversified Malaysian company that among others specializes in manufacturing and retailing of chocolate and confectionery products. The Chocolate Museum has been designed to be interactive using attractive displays and simple language which provides the best learning experience for all ages. Chocolate Museum by Fidani also is the latest, most interactive, one-of a kind chocolate museum in South East Asia with interactive digital displays, fascinating facts, state-of-the-art equipment’s and more than 100 chocolate brands available. The visitor will learn about how the chocolate is made in the industrial scale from cacao bean until the end consumer product. Some important agenda of the visit includes the visitor will learn the characteristic of cacao plant, origins of chocolate from the cacao plant, the inventions that revolutionized the chocolate industry and the industrial manufacturing process of chocolate from cacao beans.

 

Register here and get the flyer here.

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Saturday Star 2015-09-12– Job Opportunities

September 14, 2015

Happy Malaysia Day … Week. Donate to your favourite charity, buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (all 4 books). Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me.

  • I’m looking for jobs for 4Q2015. Send me your POs.
  • An associate of mine is looking for a technical safety part-time adviser. 2 Associates, actually. Needs to be needle sharp with respect to QRAs, and HSE safety cases. A calm demeanor to handle nonsensical questions from young engineers helps as well. Either that, or a drinking problem.
  • Nothing much in the news. Has The Star dropped out of favour? I see more job adverts on the facebook private groups.

Support your local bookshop!  Bookalicious at The Summit Subang is a good choice. I think they focus on trilogies, quadrilogies, and other ologies. Tell them I sent you, and enjoy the look of perplexity on their faces. Those of you who have dropped my name, thanks!

Food choice of the week? Anything under RM5.

Seen the Episode VII new trailer? If you say “What is episode Vii?”, I disown you.

Join the Star Wars Fever:

Star Wars Trilogy Episodes IV-VI (Blu-ray + DVD), Star Wars Trilogy Episodes I-III (Blu-ray + DVD), Heir to the Jedi: Star Wars

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Malaysia’s Petronas profit down 47% on oil weakness

September 13, 2015

Dateline 2015-08-14, Yahoo:

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said Friday its second-quarter profit plunged 47 percent, warning of “unrelenting” difficulty as lower world oil prices hit the company’s bottom line.

Net profit at Malaysia’s only Fortune 500 company for the three months ending June 30 fell to 11.1 billion ringgit ($272.2 million), compared to 21.06 billion ringgit in the same period last year.

“Petronas is bracing itself for more challenges ahead as low oil prices persist,” Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, Petronas president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Overall, it has been an unrelenting difficult period,” he added.

The news marks the fourth straight quarter of either weakening year-on-year sales growth or outright losses.

…

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Ringgit’s fall not due to Malaysia’s economy too dependent on oil and gas, says Mustapa

September 12, 2015

Yeah, you oil & gas folks.

Dateline 2015-08-09, Malay Mail:

The weakening of the ringgit is not due to Malaysia’s economy being overly dependent on the oil and gas industry as claimed, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said.

On the contrary, he said the devaluation of the ringgit to 3.92 against the US dollar (on Friday) was due to the volatile foreign exchange market despite the slumping oil price.

“So the ringgit fluctuates everyday. Just like when we go to the market, it (the prices of perishable goods) depend on the supply and demand.

…

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Foreign interest in Sabah SOGIP

September 11, 2015

Hail Eastern Europe.

Dateline 2015-08-05, Daily Express:

The district will be receiving foreign investments worth many billion Ringgit to build mega projects related to the oil and gas (O&G) industry here.

Member of Parliament Datuk Sapawi Ahmad, who disclosed this, said projects are expected to be constructed at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP) in Sindumin that will have a huge impact on the development of O&G industry and socio-economic aspects here.

“I was made to understand that several foreign companies have shown interest to invest in our oil and gas industry in particular in SOGIP here that has a total acreage of 4.065-acre, as it is the only site exclusively for the O&G industry in Sabah.

“One particular investor is from Romania who have contacted the State Government through the Industrial Development Ministry to show their interest to spend their money in constructing a project in SOGIP. Only the concerned authorities would know the details on specific project that Romania hopes to invest here.

“These upcoming projects would bring positive impact to the industry and development of infrastructure and social development as well as helping the government in bringing about rapid development in the O&G industry in the State,” he said.

…

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MyCAN urges Malaysians to reject nuclear-related bill

September 10, 2015

Please support the bill. It’s an enabler of my golden parachute plan. And it implicitly means that the rakyat doesn’t trust the brotherhood of local engineers to partake in such a project. Where you sit on this? Get it, my CAN? Sigh, my standup comedic talents are wasted.

Dateline 2015-08-04, The Rakyat Post (who?):

Due to the perilous repercussions, a coalition of NGOs called Malaysian Coalition Against Nuclear (MyCAN) has called on Malaysians, including Members of Parliament (MP), to reject the Atomic Energy Regulatory Bill.

In a statement, today, MyCAN urged MPs on both sides of the political divide to heed the concerns of civil society and demands that the nuclear power project be terminated on grounds of public health and safety, economics, energy security, environmental protection and sustainable development.

MyCAN, which comprises of NGOs such as Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia, rejected the Atomic Energy Regulatory Bill, which was likely to be tabled at the next parliamentary sitting from Oct 19 to Dec 3.

…

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Marketing Rounds – MOGSC CORAL 2.0 Tech Standards and Late Life

September 9, 2015

I was honoured to be one of the facilitators for the day. Though, time will tell if they invite me back.

IMG_20150702_091452_HDR-001 IMG_20150702_091421_HDR-001 IMG_20150702_110631_HDR-001

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