Colours of Diversity – EMEPMI Open Day

November 24, 2008

I was fortunate to be invited to the high tea / early dinner held by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc (EMEPMI) on Wed, 19 Nov, 2008. I don’t have photos of the event, but have a peek at the contents of the goodies bag supplied at the event.


Saturday Star 2008-11-22 – Job Opportunities

November 23, 2008

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:

  • Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
  • Aker Solutions is looking for lead/senior engineers (electrical, instrumentation, mech, piping & structure), cost control engs, senior project managers/engineers
  • SapuraCrest is looking for field engineers/operations engineers.
  • There’s a new boy in town, Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company, KPOC, a JV between PCSB, Shell and ConocoPhillips. There are positions for planning engineers, cost engineers, marine installation eng, snr mech eng (stat/rotate), snr structural (jacket/topsides), opns assurance, snr electrical eng. Submit relevant documents to recruitment@kpoc.com.my
  • Here’s an interesting one. Hertel Defence & Offshore, specialist supplier of accommodations solutions. They need proposal engs, proj managers, HVAC engs, electrical/instr engs, arch eng, structural eng,
  • Talisman is looking for a senior facilities eng.
  • Carimin, well known in the manpower service sector, is looking for a mess of engineers. Constr, comm, mech, piping, elect, instr, struct, qa/qc. Send relevant documents to hr@carimin.com, or rems@carimin.com

From The Star – “Will (Malaysian) O&G Sector Run into a Wall?”

November 22, 2008

I’ve scanned the article from the Star.

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

State of Affairs - Malaysian Oil & Gas, The Star Newspaper

State of Affairs - Malaysian Oil & Gas, The Star Newspaper


Nostalgia Trip – Old Esso Photos

November 20, 2008

As we are always taught in the oil and gas industry, we must learn from lessons past to continuously improve our operations,  of which safety and integrity are paramount.

None of the following photos in this album show any incidents, though it’s a reminder that the oil and gas network is founded on friendships and personal relationships.

Old Esso Photo - Menara Esso (back then)

Old Esso Photo - Menara Esso (back then)


Handphones Offshore – or Not

November 19, 2008

I used to think that handset use philosophies on offshore assets was standardized.  Then I quit EMEPMI, and the world became more interesting.

At Kerteh airport, you are not allowed to take your cellphone offshore. Full stop, carriage return, end of story. If you have nowhere else to drop it off, there’s a shop there that will hold on to your phone for RM5/phone/dropoff. It’s safe, but the service is not affiliated with the oil companies.

At Talisman’s helibase at Pengkalan Chepa, you are allowed to take your handphone offshore, but they will take the battery out so that you don’t accidentally turn the phone on during the chopper flight. There’s nothing to stop you from turning the phone on once you reach your destination, but don’t expect a line out there.

Anyone know Carigali Hess’s or Shell’s philosophy? Or East Malaysia, esp when you only get on a boat to travel to work, not a chopper.


Saturday Star 2008-11-15 – Job Opportunities

November 17, 2008

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:

  • Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
  • ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Malaysia Inc (who says I can’t remember names of my former masters) have an add for an elec engineer, facilities eng (aka ‘Swiss army knife engineer’), instrumentation and controls eng, process eng. Apply here.
  • QP is looking for a lot of people. Among them are Gas Production Dept: Snr Maintenance Opns Eng, Offshore Installation Supt. Transmission & Distribution Dept: Lead Process Eng, Snr Project Process Eng, Snr Opns Eng. Terminal Opns Dept: Maint Planning Eng, Snr Process Eng. You can visit the QP website. Did I tell you that QP’s SWB (salary, wages, benefits) package is something to be sneezed at?
  • Noble Denton  is looking for an engineer, with a degree in Naval Arch, Offshore Eng, Marine Eng or Mech Eng. At least 5 years working experience in O&G offshore. You can email to ndm@nobledenton.com.my
  • Kencana Petroleum is looking for design engineers – process, mech, piping, electrical, instrument and civil/structural, which about covers the whole spectrum. They are also looking for project engineers and managers. Send CVs via snail mail to The Managing Director, Kencana Bestwide Sdn Bhd, Megan Avenue II, Unit B-11-11, No. 12 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.

Sigh, when I move with Synergy to Subang, will you patronise Chee Meng in my memory?


Dangers of Unapproved Modification – NGV

November 16, 2008

Here’s an article from the Star.

Man killed in NGV explosion

By CHEN PELF YEEN and ALLISON LAI

MALACCA: Two brothers who converted a cooking gas tank into a natural gas kit for their van paid dearly when it exploded, killing one of them.

Mohd Hailmi Ishak, 25, from Kampung Duyong, and his brother Rosli Ishak, 30, from Taman Tiang Dua, had stopped at a PETRONAS petrol station in Batu Berendam at about 7.50pm on Friday to refuel.

Their worker Razali Md Zin, 31, was with them.

It is believed that Rosli, the driver, was refilling the van at the natural gas vehicle (NGV) stand while his younger brother was standing nearby when the blast happened.

The explosion shattered the front portion and two doors of the vehicle.

It shattered Mohd Hailmi’s left leg and ripped open his abdomen while Rosli and Razali escaped with light injuries.

You see a lot of this jury rigging work offshore, difference is, the jury rigging is engineered as opposed to ‘try and see lah’ philosophy. Thing’s I’ve done are:

  • Use a flange that had a higher than required rating.
  • Use a smaller than design size valve (it’s okay, the process flow had been reduced).
  • Use a process compressor for other than it’s intended use (don’t worry, risk analysis was performed).
  • Route liquid to different vessels (there’s a whole story behind this one).

This is where your engineering (and presentation and persuation) skills are called to the forefront.


Test your Floater Spotting Skills – What is This?

November 15, 2008

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know what this structure is. Is it meant to be a drilling tender rig? Floating CPP? Let me know what you think. And if you know the vessel name, you get brownie points.

Unidentified Floating Object

Unidentified Floating Object


Costing for Projects – What Price of Oil?

November 13, 2008

Did you ever wonder what crude price oil companies use to determine if a project is viable or not? It’s definitely not the Malaysian government way, who say that they used USD120/barrel when the price of crude was USD140/barrel (it’s about USD65 today, 10th Nov).

The actual amount is proprietary, depending on the risk analysis and risk tolerance of the individual companies. I’ve seen in the past that a project is analysed with crude at half the current or foreseeable market price. So, those who thought oil would stabilise at USD100 could have budgeted projects to be profitable at USD50.

So, Synergy Oil & Gas Engineering Sdn Bhd has a chance to birth and mature in these trying times 🙂 (hey, it’s my blog).


Saturday Star 2008-11-08 – Job Opportunities

November 10, 2008

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:

RasGas is looking for a planning engineer – shutdown, lead metering technician… this week’s advert seems to be technician heavy. CVs to be submitted here. I believe RasGas is a JV, one of the partners being ExxonMobil.

  • Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
  • RNZ are looking for engineers, Process / Civil, Structural / Mechanical / Piping / Instrument / Electrical / Pipeline. And I thought they weren’t busy. CVs to be submitted here.
  • QP is looking for a lot of people. Among them are Snr Elec Eng, Lead Elec Eng, Lead Civil, Civil Eng, Head Rot Eqt, Lead Planning Eng, Costing Eng, Senior Process Eng. You can visit the QP website. Did I tell you that QP’s SWB (salary, wages, benefits) package is something to be sneezed at?