SPG defends Sarawak Govt’s stand on petroleum rights

October 22, 2016

Dateline 2016-09-09, FMT:

Suarah Petroleum Group (SPG), a Sarawakian non-profit organisation, has come out in defence of the Sarawak State Government’s actions pertaining to Petronas’ operation in the state.

The group also stressed that Petronas must be penalised for work permit violations and that Peninsular Malaysian employees working on social visit passes must be deported immediately.

In a statement, SPG responded to Unimas political scientist Assoc Prof Andrew Aeria, who in a recent interview with BFM 89.9 raised questions over the targeting of Petronas by the State Government over the issue of 13 senior Sarawakian staff who had been retrenched and whether the matter had been blown out of proportion by the State Government.

Aeria, SPG said, had also accused state politicians on both sides of the divide of failing to raise the level of political discourse and instead engaging in jingoism.

 


Marketing Rounds – Backup Plan

October 19, 2016

If the oil & gas market tanks further, this may be a good backup plan, where I park this alongside my diving equipment van. And my tax optimization services van.

img_20160908_125111 img_20160908_125225

For your convenience, the link to bookcafe is here.

 


PETRONAS to Continue Cost Control Measures Even When Oil Price Recovers

October 7, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-18, Rigzone:

Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) planned to continue with efforts to control costs even when oil prices recover after it saved approximately $851 million (MYR 3.4 billion) following implemention of cost cutting measures from the beginning of 2015 to the middle of this year, President and Group CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said Wednesday, as reported by national news agency Bernama.

“Through the Cost Reduction Alliance program, we have managed to cut MYR 3.4 billion in terms of our costs since we started till the middle of this year,” Wan Zulkiflee told the International Conference of Blue Ocean Strategy’s plenary session in Putrajaya.

PETRONAS’ Cost Reduction Alliance (CORAL 2.0) is a five year program stretching from 2015 to 2019 seeks to inculcate cost-conscious mindset across upstream sector in Malaysia. The industry-wide program aims to support sustainability in the local petroleum sector through cost optimization, increased efficiency and driving industry innovation across all operators.

Many international, national and independent oil and gas companies, including PETRONAS, had undertaken measures to cut cost due to the slump in global oil prices that commenced in the second half of 2014.

“In 2014, oil prices were more than $100 per barrel, at lunch time today it was $48. Oil companies had to do strategic responses, worried about cash flows, cut budgets and optimize the manpower and PETRONAS was no different,” Wan Zulkiflee said, as reported by Bernama.

 


Engineer’s Run 2016

October 5, 2016

I partook of the 5km run. I think I put off a lot of students at UM from studying engineering.


Shout Out – Talk on “Critical Thinking for Engineers” 2016-10

October 5, 2016

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be  hosting a talk on the 12th October, 2016 byIr. Al-Khairi Mohd Daud and Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran. It’ll be at 5:30pm   (makan-makan at 5:00pm)

Engineers always faced with a challenge to make a tough decision throughout his career. In real life, decisions are not made based on one factor only but multiple factors need to be evaluated for a decision to be made objectively and wisely. Thus engineer needs to master the art of critical thinking.

Critical thinking is the identification and evaluation of evidence to guide decision making.  A critical thinker uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his/her beliefs clearly and accurately.This’ something that need to be practiced when we encounter engineering problems, business decisions so that we can work towards a solution.

This is a preview on our upcoming course on Critical Thinking. During the course, we will practice some of the important skills of critical thinking, and apply those to understand current problems, belief systems and ethical positions. You will learn to appraise information and influences, discuss topics intelligently and construct well-reasoned arguments.

 

Ir. Al-Khairi Mohd Daud has over 23 years of experienced in Oil and Gas, petrochemical, oleo chemical, manufacturing and facilities management. He is the country expert for ASEAN Energy Management Accreditation Scheme and an expert in healthcare facilities management. He has assisted in drafting few Malaysian Standards including the Malaysian Standard for Quality in Healthcare. He has presented papers in national and international conference especially on maintenance and asset management. He is the owner of Faqeh Management who specialized in asset and energy management.

Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran graduated from University Teknologi Malaysia in 2001 with Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons). Subsequently, pursued his Master Degree in University of Malaya. He has published in international journals and conferences in the past. His career has a diverse outlook on project execution ranging from building construction, marine, mining and energy industry; as a mechanical engineer.
Register here or download the form here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here.


IEM Shout Out – 2016/10 One Day Course on Demolition Using Explosives

October 4, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day course on the 20th October, 2016, presented by Brig General Mustapha Omar, Ir. Look Keman Sahari and Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias Yusof. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. I expect that you register using your actual names, not your Pokemon handles.

Malaysia is considered a young country and rapidly developing. We see many new high rise building coming up even on small plot of land in city area. This is due to high cost of land. However, anything that goes up some day, sometimes it will have to come down. It can be due to aging, high cost of maintenance, availability of new technology, new planning by the owner or authority or whatever other reasons. It is very rare when forwarding development plan, the subject of the need for demolition later is ever considered. Bringing down a building or any structure by mechanical means for example will subject the neighbours to vibration, dust noise and numerous other dangers to them for a long time. It may even take several months. There are also incidents where demolition workers were injured and some were killed in line of duty. Demolition by using explosive may require the services of civil/structural engineer working together with the blasters and blasting engineer. The preparation may take months to study the structural plan of the building to be taken down, to survey the surrounding area and plan how to mitigate the effect of airblast, fragmentation, dust and ground vibration.

Hj Look Keman bin Sahari graduated in mining engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland in 1979. He joined the Mines Department initially as Geotechnical engineer specialising in Slope engineering particularly technical investigation on slope failures. He later joined the Inspectorate division of the Department until retirement in 1996. In 1990 he continued his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, England and obtained MSc in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. His interest was then on the use of Shape Charge in the industry. On retirement he worked as Consultant Engineer in the use of explosive for mining, quarrying and construction. He had also served as expert witness in control blasting in Arbitration. As a committee member of IEM Training Board he had attended many courses particularly on Geotechnical Engineering, Health and Safety, forensic engineering and also tunnelling as Auditor. He is a Professional Engineer with Practicing Certificate and a Fellow of IEM. He had also given lecture on explosives application at IEM and Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is also a qualified Shotfirer..

Brig General Mustapha bin Omar is a qualified Ammunition Technical Officer and had rose through the rank in the Malaysian Army  to become to Chief Ammunition Technical officer He is  an expert in the application of military explosives including demolition. He also had a Diploma in Industrial Management from UKM in 1993 and subsequently Bachelor in Business Administration from UPM in 2001. In 2002-2003 he further his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University at MSc level in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. He is also knowledgeable in the use of commercial explosives and had attended a Shotfirer Course organised by Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is currently a Senior Research Officer at STRIDE ( Institute Penyelidekan Sains Teknologi Pertahanan)

Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias bin Yusof obtained his Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from UTM in 2002, MSc in Project Management from UITM in 2005 and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2012 from University Pertahanan National Malaysia. He is also a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineer. Dr Alias specialises in the Blast Effect on Structure. He is also knowledgeable in Commercial and Military explosives and had also attended course in Explosives Engineering at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University He also attended Shotfirer Course and Blast Vibration, Monitoring and ControlCourse at Institute of Quarrying Malaysia.

Register here, or download the form here.


IEM Shout Out – 2016/10 One Day Course on Demolition Using Explosives

September 20, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day course on the 20th October, 2016, presented by Brig General Mustapha Omar, Ir. Look Keman Sahari and Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias Yusof. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. I expect that you register using your actual names, not your Pokemon handles.

Malaysia is considered a young country and rapidly developing. We see many new high rise building coming up even on small plot of land in city area. This is due to high cost of land. However, anything that goes up some day, sometimes it will have to come down. It can be due to aging, high cost of maintenance, availability of new technology, new planning by the owner or authority or whatever other reasons. It is very rare when forwarding development plan, the subject of the need for demolition later is ever considered. Bringing down a building or any structure by mechanical means for example will subject the neighbours to vibration, dust noise and numerous other dangers to them for a long time. It may even take several months. There are also incidents where demolition workers were injured and some were killed in line of duty. Demolition by using explosive may require the services of civil/structural engineer working together with the blasters and blasting engineer. The preparation may take months to study the structural plan of the building to be taken down, to survey the surrounding area and plan how to mitigate the effect of airblast, fragmentation, dust and ground vibration.

Hj Look Keman bin Sahari graduated in mining engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland in 1979. He joined the Mines Department initially as Geotechnical engineer specialising in Slope engineering particularly technical investigation on slope failures. He later joined the Inspectorate division of the Department until retirement in 1996. In 1990 he continued his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, England and obtained MSc in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. His interest was then on the use of Shape Charge in the industry. On retirement he worked as Consultant Engineer in the use of explosive for mining, quarrying and construction. He had also served as expert witness in control blasting in Arbitration. As a committee member of IEM Training Board he had attended many courses particularly on Geotechnical Engineering, Health and Safety, forensic engineering and also tunnelling as Auditor. He is a Professional Engineer with Practicing Certificate and a Fellow of IEM. He had also given lecture on explosives application at IEM and Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is also a qualified Shotfirer..

Brig General Mustapha bin Omar is a qualified Ammunition Technical Officer and had rose through the rank in the Malaysian Army  to become to Chief Ammunition Technical officer He is  an expert in the application of military explosives including demolition. He also had a Diploma in Industrial Management from UKM in 1993 and subsequently Bachelor in Business Administration from UPM in 2001. In 2002-2003 he further his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University at MSc level in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. He is also knowledgeable in the use of commercial explosives and had attended a Shotfirer Course organised by Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is currently a Senior Research Officer at STRIDE ( Institute Penyelidekan Sains Teknologi Pertahanan)

Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias bin Yusof obtained his Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from UTM in 2002, MSc in Project Management from UITM in 2005 and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2012 from University Pertahanan National Malaysia. He is also a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineer. Dr Alias specialises in the Blast Effect on Structure. He is also knowledgeable in Commercial and Military explosives and had also attended course in Explosives Engineering at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University He also attended Shotfirer Course and Blast Vibration, Monitoring and ControlCourse at Institute of Quarrying Malaysia.

Register here, or download the form here.


Shout Out – Talk on “Trilogy of Rare Earth Elements”

September 17, 2016

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be  hosting a talk on the 1st October, 2016 by Professor Ka Kheng Tany. It’ll be at 9am   (makan-makan at 8:30), before the AGM

Deng Xiaoping famously said in 1992 that “The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths.” Following China’s reduction of the export of the critical raw materials in 2009, some countries tried to neutralize China’s 95 percent global supply of rare earths. The performance and fate of three rare-earth plants will be scrutinized with four factors: Process technology, Profitability, Siting and HSE (health, safety and the environment).  The RE trilogy tells of the tragic extinction of an old plant and the exuberance of trauma of a new one in Malaysia, and the bankruptcy of the world’s oldest and massively reworked plant in America.  More important, their massive failures have very adverse impacts in industries and investment, although they also offer valuable insights and lessens to the public and bureaucrats, investors and users of rare earth elements.  The myth of China’s monopoly of REE will be exposed.  Substitutes and recycling of REE, alternative technology for efficiency improvement and new technology will be discussed briefly.

Professor Ka Kheng Tan studied Chemical Engineering at University of Birmingham (UK) in 1977 and Environmental Engineering at University of California at Berkeley in USA. He conducted PhD research at Cambridge University and developed the Theory of Transient Instability caused by unsteady-state diffusion in non-Newtonian liquids. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the academia as a lecturer and professor, and four years in industries, and provides expertise and consultancy service to government agencies, World Bank and private firms over the last thirty years.  He was inaugural Head of Department of Chemical Engineering at University Putra of Malaysia and Director of School of Engineering and Science at Curtin University (Malaysia) before joining HELP University.  Professor Tan is a pioneer and world leader in transient hydrodynamics instability theory driven by buoyancy, surface tension and shear force in Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids, porous media and plasma. The theory has been successfully applied to the prediction of the boundary layer instability and the formation of mantle plumes in deep earth, which has been presented to the prestigious Penrose Conference and Beijing Geology University, IUTAM Symposium, Cambridge University and Tsinghua University.
Register here or download the form here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here.


IEM Shout Out – CETD 30th AGM 2016-10

September 17, 2016

The Chemical Engineering Technical Division AGM will be held at Wisma IEM Wisma IEM, 01- Auditorium Tan Sri Prof. Chin Fung Kee, Third Floor. You get 2 CPD points.

It will be held at 11am on Saturday, 1st October 2016.

Register here, and download the flyer here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here.

Come, y’all and heckle us. We need a quorum.


IEM Shout Out – Talk on “Gaslift System Optimization”

September 17, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a talk on the 21st September, 2016. It is worth 2 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. The course will be presented by Ir. Ridhuan Affandi bin Abu Bakar.

Gas lift is one of the most widely used artificial lift techniques. It plays an important role in Malaysia’s oil fields production, as around 70% of active oil production strings are currently on gas lift. This shows how critical gas lift contribution to sustain Malaysia’s oil production. It is important to have good practices in gas lift implementation to ensure successful and optimum gas lift operation. Sub-optimized gas lift operation not only wastes the valuable gas resources and compression capacity but also resulting in a system bottleneck, if the planning for gas lift is not in place. Gas lift optimization can bring value for immediate and significant production gain and perceived as the most cost effective in production enhancement.

As the efficiency of overall gas lift system is much dependent on network integration between subsurface and surface system, a holistic view on performance and setup of each system is crucial to obtain optimum gas lift operation.

This talk will cover and discuss the gaps identification in the current gas lift implementation from the Surface Engineering’s perspective. The recommendation and best practices for gas lift optimization effort with associated oil gain will also be discussed and shared in this talk

Ir. Ridhuan Affandi bin Abu Bakar graduated from Universiti Putra Malaysia with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He has 10 years of working experience in the engineering industry, covering the design of onshore and offshore facilities. He has involved in conceptual, FEED (Front End Engineering Design), detailed design and modification projects for various types of structures (including wellhead platforms, central processing platforms, FPSO, production-drilling platforms and living quarter (PDQ)

He has worked on a number of projects globally including Singapore, Vietnam, United Kingdom and Iran. Recently, he has represented PETRONAS MPM (Malaysia Petroleum Management) to conduct assessment and evaluation on gas lift operation for the selected fields and Oil & Gas Operators in Malaysia.

He is currently a Process Specialist who provides consultancy services to the Oil & Gas industry.

Register here, or download the form here.