IEM Shout Out – Emerging Technologies to Monetize Small Natural Gas Resources

September 27, 2009

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be having a talk on Saturday 10th October, 2009. It’ll be at 9:00 am (makan-makan at 11:00) at Wisma IEM. That’s right people, as part of the new health drive you are required to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get your 2 CPD points.

The number of large natural gas fields for mankind’s exploitation is reducing as we go into the future. Future natural gas fields are relatively smaller, scattered in various geographical locations and contains higher acidic components. As the world’s energy demand continues, there is an urgent need to develop emerging technologies to monetize small natural gas resources around the globe which could not be economically carried out now.

The above will be presented by  Dr. Ir. Chan Tuck Leong, is a Chemical Engineer graduated from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. He is currently the Head of Gas Technology in the gas business of the national oil company. His responsibility covers assessment of emerging gas monetization technology for commercialization and exploitation of small gas reserves.

Fliers for the above and other events may be obtained here.

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Posted by Wata

The SOGE Story – Presentation Training

September 26, 2009

We at SOGE are a ruthless band. Do we namby-pamby coddle our engineers? No, we show them the brutal world that they will be facing, and bombard them with the worst kind of abuse they can take, and push it further. This rite of passage is also called The Presentation and The Question and Answer Session.

Engineers aren’t just rocket scientists, you know. We have to:

  • Come to conclusions with the support of data
  • Reason that our conclusion is the best one out of a selection.
  • Present it to the layman (i.e. Management/ Clients/ Media)
  • Convince the audience that the solution our conclusion arrives at is in their interest
  • Convince the audience that our services are valuable and cost effective.

The Presentation and The Question and Answer Session can be thought of as a live fire exercise, simulating the environment while not actively trying to kill the target.

14 Comments | engineering | Permalink
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Saturday Star 2009-09-19 – Job Opportunities

September 21, 2009

First of all, let me say Selamat Hari Raya Eidul Adha Fitri, maaf zahir dan batin, and happy holidays (you can tell I’m a 1Malaysia Malaysian, right?).

  • First off, Synergy is looking for 5 lead safety engineers and 3 lead process engineers. Visit the Synergy websites (Jakarta and KL) for contact details. And safety specialists. Ah, heck. If you have more than 4 years experience in O&G, apply. If you have less than 4, send a donation to the offshore account, and still get abused.
  • Petrofac ‘at the heart of oil & gas operations’ seems to be looking for an EPC team. They want a WHP EPC Delivery Manager (15+ yrs), Pipelines & Flowlines Delivery Man (15 – 20 yrs), Costruction & Completions Man (15-20 yrs), FPSO Delivery Man (15-20 yrs), Lead QA Eng (15+ yrs), Senior Bus Plan Eng (15+ yrs), Snr Contract Eng (5+ yrs, but they want a LAW degree), WHP Project Eng (5+ yrs). Let me guess, they have either i) selected their people and the ad is ‘lepas batuk di tangga’, or ii) they are getting Caucasian expats, or iii) they are going to pinch from other EPCs. Contact them here.

And that’s it for this week.

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Murphy Oil begins production at Malaysia field

September 19, 2009

Then from the Business Insider:

EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) — Murphy Oil Corp., an independent petroleum producer, refiner and marketer, said Friday it started production at its natural gas field offshore Sarawak, Malaysia.

Murphy Sarawak Oil Co. Ltd. operates the development and has an 85 percent working interest in the fields with Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. holding the other 15 percent.

Shares fell 52 cents to $60.45 during in late afternoon trading.

Reuters has a report as well. Synergyis proud to have supported early production of these fields (SK309 and SK311). I have no idea why the shares fell, though. Must be due to the drop of crude prices.

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IEM Shout Out – Water Recovery Network for a Process Plant

September 16, 2009

This is a shout out for the IEM. The Chemical Engineering Technical Division (know as CETD to friends) will be having a half-day workshop on Saturday, 3rd October, 2009.

Industrial water recovery is commonly accepted as a promising mean to the water scarcity problem faced by the world-wide community. However, many regard that water recovery can only be achieved by the installation of purification units (e.g. filter) at the effluent discharge point of the wastewater treatment tank. This is indeed not true, as there are always direct reuse and recycle opportunities to be explored prior to the use of purification units, provided that appropriate mixing and segregation rules are followed.
Water pinch analysis technique has been widely accepted as a systematic design tool in synthesizing a water recovery network for maximum efficiency. It establishes the minimum fresh water and wastewater flowrates needed for a process plant after maximizing the reuse/recycle potential of its water sources, base on first principle (termed as targeting). After the water flowrate targets are established, some design rules are used to synthesize a network that achieves maximum water recovery.

As for the speaker:

Engr. Dr Dominic Foo is an Associate Professor with the University of Nottingham,  Malaysia Campus. Engr Dr Foo is a world leading researcher for waste minimisation,
focusing on the systematic design of water recovery systems. He published more than 40 journal papers and made more than 100 presentations in various conferences. He is a book editor on the design and optimisation techniques for sustainable processes. Engr Dr Foo conducts training for practicing engineers in the area of waste minimisation and process simulation.

Water pinch sounds interesting. Please come along, and partake of the food (both intellectual and physical).

1 Comment | Chemical, engineering, Malaysia | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
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Saturday Star 2009-09-12 – Job Opportunities

September 14, 2009
  • First off, Synergy is looking for 5 lead safety engineers and 3 lead process engineers. Visit the Synergy website for contact details. And safety specialists. Ah, heck. If you have more than 5 years experience in O&G, apply. If you have less than 5, send a donation to the offshore account, and still get abuse.
  • I see AP Recruitment has a full page spread. Must be the start of booming times in Qatar. The are usually associated with Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Gas. Wonder why the don’t mention their client here? Anyhow, jobs are available for Maint Eng (Electrical), Planning Engineering Specialist (Shutdown). The rest are technician posts. Apply here.
  • Shapadu is recruiting for Mech & Piping, Elect & Instr, Planning, Structural & Construction, Comm Eng. Email here or here. I know these guys as an offshore construction group, though I tend to pay attention to who actually works for a company rather than the company name. That’s the nature of construction contracts, if the PSC likes you personally, then you swap coveralls and work for the PSC’s flavour of the month.
  • And Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company (KPOC to friends) has a two-page spread. I presume they are now moving into detailed design / fabrication? Anyhow, the posts that they hope to fill are: Offshore Installation Manager (OIM, PIC, Platform Supv), Snr Proj Eng, Snr Proj Eng (Mat & Eqpt), Electrical Reliability Eng (is TNB offshore?), C&I Reliability Eng, Snr Contract Specialist (this is where you make your money by, ahem, creative means), Metering System Reliability Eng (not many of them around), Piping Eng, Mech Reliability Eng, LQ project eng (please don’t make it dorm style), Proj Eng, Planning Eng, Cost Eng). Please apply here, or snail mail to: Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Comp Sdn Bhd, Level 52, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers, KLCC, 50088 KL, Malaysia.

No makan-makan recommendations this week. I did have an iftar at the Bluewave Hotel, Shah Alam though.

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Optimal – A Fully PETRONAS Company

September 9, 2009

I can’t find this news on any Malaysian news site. I first read about it in the TCE:

TO further ease its debts, Dow Chemical has agreed to sell its stake in Optimal to Malaysian partner Petronas for $660m.

 I pulled an extract from Project Finance International (subscribers only):

Dow has recently sold its entire stake in Malaysia-based Optimal Group of Companies to Petroliam Nasional (PETRONAS).

From Optimal’s history page, there are only two investors, UCC (now part of DOW) and PETRONAS.

I remember when Optimal was sucking up the Kerteh workforce with higher pay and better compensation. They opened up an international school in Kerteh, to cater for the (highly paid) expats who came in for the first 2 years. They also closed the school when the expats left, so you know it wasn’t meant as a service to local staff, even those who could afford it.

So, does this mean that the current Optimal salary, wages and benefits (SWB) will be in line with the rest of PETRONAS? Is there going to be an exodus of talent from Optimal to … don’t think there are other high-paying jobs around the KIPP (Kawasan Industry Petroliam PETRONAS), so we’ll see another exodus overseas.

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The SOGE Story – Pipenet Training

September 8, 2009

Synergy’s staff does undergo training, you know. Here, they are in a session to improve theirs skills on Pipenet, supplied by EDSA.

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Saturday Star 2009-09-05 – Job Opportunities

September 7, 2009
  • Petrofac is looking for a reservoir engineer. Send you application here.
  • Talisman is looking for a Team Lead – Exploration Dept. Apply here, and visit their site.

Latest food site? I had iftar at Selero Negori, Subang.

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Saturday Star 2009-08-29 – Job Opportunities

September 1, 2009

Sorry about the late post. I was using the new bluehyppo ebrowse service, and it hasn’t published any The Star papers since last Thursday.

  • First off, Synergy is looking for 5 lead safety engineers and 3 lead process engineers. Visit the Synergy website for contact details. And safety specialists. Ah, heck. If you have more than 5 years experience in O&G, apply. If you have less than 5, send a donation to the offshore account, and still get abuse.
  • Hey, there’s nothing else.

Happy Malaysia Independence Day.

4 Comments | engineering, Malaysia | Permalink
Posted by Wata

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