Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:
Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.
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engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: optimal, orogenic, sabic | 
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Posted by Wata
Ah, the new signage for the Terengganu Crude Oil Terminal (TCOT) and Onshore Slug Catcher (OSC) are up.
9 Comments | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: Kerteh, KIPP, OSC, Paka, TCOT | Permalink
Posted by Wata
You may have noticed that the Institution of Engineers, IEM has started a blog page. Kudos to them for opening more channels of communication to its members, and engineers in general.
I hope they actually open a forum. A forum is more conductive to two way communication, and discussion between the different contributors. It’s designed to encourage dialogue between all parties involved in a topic, where as blog comments are not. And it will give the IEM a chance to create the first truly Malaysian engineering discussion group (excluding yours truly).
Maybe the IEM is afraid that forums will permit virtual discussion without increasing the actual physical presence of engineers at their events?
Me, I’m the Sec / Treas of the Oil, Gas and Mining Tech Division 2007-2008. If you are more comfortable in online participation, by all means, go ahead. Though I do hope to see you in the Bangunan Ingenier sometime.
1 Comment | engineering, Malaysia | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Different assets have varied approaches to the disposal of human waste products . The ones I am familiar with have all products are disposed of directly into the sea via a caisson / pile. Makes for a real simple design. Though, even then you can get it wrong:
I have worked on a project that required a full septic system. There was a bit of head scratching there. First time I thought of picking up a civil engineering book. Concept’s easy, have a tank to ferment solid products, send the water to the sea. But who does the septic tank cleaning? Indah Water?
Batfish Racha Yai Phuket
3 Comments | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: toilets | Permalink
Posted by Wata
How’s this for recursive definitions:
And you can use the same circular logic to define an engineer.
I suggest defining an engineer the same way as one defines a businessman:
The trick is to get your client around to the same viewpoint. Now that’s a salesman.
1 Comment | engineering | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. I’ve been on holiday for the past few days, so expect to see photos of folks I met in that time.
Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:
Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.
Leave a Comment » | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: Amec, Mahkota, MMC, MMHE, Talisman, titan | Permalink
Posted by Wata
All the oil and gas platforms I’ve been to have devices colloquially known as watermakers. They are desalination units that convert seawater into potable water. They usual work by reverse osmosis, as I assume thermal desalinators use too much power. Examples of watermakers are by C’Treat and Village Marine.
The commercial ones you see installed in front of shops in Malaysia work on the same principles, though they don’t work under the same conditions (they only filter good old M’sian tap water).
You know the offshore watermaker isn’t working correctly when water tastes brackish.
11 Comments | engineering, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Noting that here in Malaysia there has been a lot of interest in converting petrol vehicles to NGV guzzlers, I was musing on the idea that perhaps motorcycles could undergo the same surgery.
Sniggers could be heard, erupting into full blown laughter after introducing the plan to others.
Other parties have stifled their mirth, put pen to paper. The results are here, here, here.
5 Comments | business opportunity, engineering, Malaysia | Tagged: cng, conversion, ngv, two stroke | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Don’t bother opening the paper this week. Nothing in there.
IGL Process Solutions is looking for high paying work, preferably of a 6 month duration.
I put in a free advert for my favourite chicken rice place, Chee Meng. Go, people, go! I’m waiting for their loyalty card to come out…
Leave a Comment » | engineering | Tagged: Chee Meng | Permalink
Posted by Wata
You can’t miss the announcement that Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP as a retail product after today (30th June, 2008). It will still be supported till 2014. Considering it was introduced in October 2001, it has had a long streak.
Now, how long do you expect offshore hardware to be supported? For field instrumentation, you really don’t care. Discontinued? As long as you have the original specs and current requirements for the item, you are covered. You usually replace the whole item, not individual components like displays, power board and logic circuits.
Machinery is another matter. You have sunk, oh say USD8M in a compressor/turbogenerator package which is meant to last the life of the platform (20 years). You need support for that whole period, either with the vendor maintaining a warehouse of replacement parts, or a part-by-part or bundle-by-bundle upgrade program. I would say that this program is similar to aircraft engine upgrade schemes, seeing that offshore generators are generally aero-derivatives to save weight, i.e. having a large power to weight ratio (efficiency is another matter).
The one that would trouble me are the brains of the asset. This would cover flow computers, DCS, PCS, SCADA, MMI, SDS, F&G. The vendor has to provide hardware and software support for yonks (or the term stipulated in the PO). And us consumers know how fast electronics evolve. That cool Zip drive of 1998 is no longer in sight. When was the last time you saw a floppy? 50MB hard drives are now hard to come by. Electronics are proprietary (sorry, Low Yat plaza). Replacing or upgrading these systems are not as easy as picking out the successor from a vendor catalog. Months and years of planning are in place, usually requiring an asset shutdown (USD80/bbl x 100 kbl/d x 4 days…). There are redundancies in place, but it still requires a something akin to a heart-lung transplant. kudos to the I&E surgeons for performing the surgery under pressure.
I don’t worry about PLCs not so much, as I suspect they are easier to replace, similar to field instruments.
Me, I’m a process guy. I deal with vessels and stuff, no electronics to worry about. Though, a pressure surge can really damage orifice plates, vane mist pads… buy a replacement in Balakong, that’s the ticket.
1 Comment | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: electronics, obsolesce, offshore hardware | Permalink
Posted by Wata
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Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 