The bigger picture on electricity tariff hikes

January 17, 2014

From the Malaysian Insider, 2013-12-01:

The issue of an increase in electricity tariffs has been spun out of proportion. In Malaysia, there is a growing need to review and increase our electricity tariffs, given that they are still one of the lowest rates in the world.

Malaysia’s power industry needs reform. The entire structural mechanism as outlined by the Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry (MESI) transformation programme and Incentive-Based Regulations (IBR) is intended to benefit the consumers by delivering value and quality in power distribution, using global key performance benchmarks.

For the industry, MESI and IBR reward the utility company based on performance measured by:

  • System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) – the global benchmark of the number of times the system experiences outages in a year;

  • System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) – the global benchmark of the number of minutes the system experiences outages in a year; and,

  • Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) – the global benchmark of the number of minutes a customer experiences outages in a year.

 

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IEM Shout Out – Talk on Flyrock Issues at Quarries and Construction Sites

January 15, 2014

This is a shout out for the IEM. My technical division will be having a talk on Saturday, 8th February, 2014 at 9am. Makan-makan at 8:30am.

Flyrock issues had been in the newspapers and other media regularly every year sometimes with fatalities and other times caused serious damages to properties and also serious injuries to people. Rock blasting at quarries and construction sites is actually an essential part of development work and can be done safely even at location very close to properties. However, highly qualified blasting engineers and experience shotfirers are needed to ensure compliance with safety requirements imposed by the authorities. Low vibration limit and almost no airblast are required to ensure minimum disturbance to the public. Only when blasting is not permitted alternative means such as expansive cement and pyrotechnics materials are considered. The talk will discuss the flyrock issues and mean to tackle it and the alternative means to blasting when and where it is possible. The talk can be useful to project managers or engineers who are likely to be responsible for blasting at their sites.

As for the speaker:

Ir. Hj Look Keman graduated with a degree in Mining Engineering from Stratchlyde University in 1979 and M.Sc in Explosives Engineering from Cranfield University in 1991. He initially worked as Research Engineer with Mines Research Institute in Mining Geotechnical Engineering specialising in Slope Engineering for mines, tailing dams etc. Later he worked as Inspector of Mines in Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca and after his postgraduate studies. He specialised in Rock blasting in mines quarries and Construction sites. He had been involved in many investigations on flyrock issues from quarries and construction sites since 1991 till now and will discuss on his experience and mitigation techniques to minimise or eliminate the problem. He retired from the Mines Department in 1996 and work as Consultant Engineer.

You can register here, and download the form here. A map to the Wisma IEM is provided here. Note Wisma IEM is where the nursing college is (don’t ask).

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Saturday Star 2014-01-11 – Job Opportunities

January 13, 2014

Buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me. I need RM360 to get The Star ePaper

  • I’m looking for a senior process engineer, 7+ years experience. Send your cv here. Also looking for technical safety persons, metering / measurement engineers and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
  • Technip is looking for its next biggest asset: You (seen your BMI lately?) Visit here soon. Apply to Synergy first.

Here’s a quick list of tech podcasts I follow:

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!

This week, my theme is, you need to be a better all round engineer. Hence, some selections for the process engineer:

A Simple Guide To Understanding Jet Engines, Process Plant Instrumentation: Design and Upgrade, Mechanical Design of Process Systems: Piping and Pressure Vessels

The IEM has a coffee table book out, Engineering Heritage of Malaysia (no, it is not Datuk Seri Samy Vellu’s bio). Visit here for details.

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MOF willing to assist Labuan emerge Malaysia’s International O&G hub

January 8, 2014

Dateline 2013-11-13, The Edge:

The Finance Ministry is willing to help Labuan realise its aspiration of emerging as Malaysia’s international oil and gas hub, says Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

He said the federal government was seriously looking at developing the oil and gas sector in Labuan.

“With increasing international and local players operating in Labuan the Federal government, through the Ministry of Finance, is willing to assist turn the plan into a reality,” he told Bernama.

Ahmad Maslan said the active participation of local players was crucial in developing the island’s economy.

“What we would like to see is more local participation in the oil and gas sector,” he said.

…

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Saturday Star 2014-01-04 – Job Opportunities

January 6, 2014

Buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me. I need RM360 to get The Star ePaper

  • I’m looking for a senior process engineer, 7+ years experience. Send your cv here. Also looking for technical safety persons, metering / measurement engineers and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
  • Nothing of interest this week.

Help me (and you) increase my cloud presence. Pleease use some form of cloud storage, so if you lose your laptop with those oh-so-important reports, be assured that (with Internet access) the files are still accessible. Use my referrals for Dropbox, MiMedia,  SpiderOak, MediaFire, Ubuntu One, Sugar Sync.

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!

This week, my theme is, you need to be a better all round engineer. Hence, some selections for the process engineer:

A Simple Guide To Understanding Jet Engines, Process Plant Instrumentation: Design and Upgrade, Mechanical Design of Process Systems: Piping and Pressure Vessels

The IEM has a coffee table book out, Engineering Heritage of Malaysia (no, it is not Datuk Seri Samy Vellu’s bio). Visit here for details.

Leave a Comment » | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Wata

2013 in review

January 1, 2014

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Saturday Star 2013-12-28 – Job Opportunities

December 30, 2013

Happy ‘max out your PTPTN allowances’ week (don’t forget that offshore bank account).

Buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me. I need RM360 to get The Star ePaper

  • I’m looking for a senior process engineer, 7+ years experience. Send your cv here. Also looking for technical safety persons, metering / measurement engineers and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
  • Nothing of interest this week.

Help me (and you) increase my cloud presence. Pleease use some form of cloud storage, so if you lose your laptop with those oh-so-important reports, be assured that (with Internet access) the files are still accessible. Use my referrals for Dropbox, MiMedia,  SpiderOak, MediaFire, Ubuntu One, Sugar Sync.

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!

This week, my theme is, you need to be a better all round engineer. Hence, some selections for the process engineer:

A Simple Guide To Understanding Jet Engines, Process Plant Instrumentation: Design and Upgrade, Mechanical Design of Process Systems: Piping and Pressure Vessels

The IEM has a coffee table book out, Engineering Heritage of Malaysia (no, it is not Datuk Seri Samy Vellu’s bio). Visit here for details.

Food?I had lunch at Chakri Palace, KLCC. Blooming expensive. Anyone want to treat me to dinner there?

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Posted by Wata

Windows XP to Become a Hacker’s Dream in 2014, Experts Warn

December 28, 2013

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Interview: SapuraKencana to pare debts in three years

December 28, 2013

Dateline 2013-11-01, The Edge:

JUST six months after completing the acquisition of Seadrill Ltd’s Asian rig business for RM8.63 billion, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SKPB) is now forking out another RM2.85 billion to acquire Newfield Exploration Co’s equity interest in Malaysia.

The latest deal could add to SKPB’s current debt of RM11.4 billion as at July 31, something that has not gone down well with the market.

However, SKPB group president and CEO Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin reasons that the debt will begin to pare down substantially by next year.

“We expect our debt to go down to below RM10 billion over three years. Furthermore, the equity would have grown as profitability will increase the equity portion to reduce the debt-to-equity ratio to about 0.8,” says Shahril.

“In the next two years, while our debt level goes down, the focus for SKPB will be to develop the fields in Newfield,” he says, adding that the Newfield assets are cash-generating.

On top of this, SKPB’s other businesses are said to contribute about US$1 billion in earnings to the group while it looks to bid for more acreage and proven reserves for future developments.

Analysts believe the Newfield Malaysia acquisition will increase SKPB’s revenue by US$403.3 million in 2013, with contribution expected to grow by US$600.4 million in 2018.

It will also see SKPB’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) growing by US$209.2 million in 2013 and US$396.6 million in 2018 while the incremental increase in net profit would be US$155.8 million and US$289 million respectively.

Analysts expect SKPB’s net gearing to decrease to 1% in 2016 from 1.1% in 2013 and its net debt to Ebitda to decrease to 3.5% from 5.6%.

SKPB was formed after the merger of Kencana Petroleum Bhd and SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd. Shahril notes that while both companies were growing independently, their debt profile saw a mismatch where long-term investments were funded by short-term debts.

…

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Newfield Sells Malaysian Offshore Busines

December 21, 2013

Old news, yes.

Dateline 2013-10-22, Rigzone:

Newfield Exploration Company plans to sell its equity interests in Newfield Malaysia Holdings to SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad for $898 million. The deal is expected to close early next year.

“We have enjoyed significant success in Malaysia and had a great business partnership with Petronas in the region,” commented Lee K. Boothby, Newfield Chairman, President and CEO, in a press release. “In early 2013, however, we announced our intent to exit our international businesses and focus our investments on domestic resource plays.”

In April 2013, Newfield made a large natural gas discovery off the coast of Malaysia in its B-14 well, which encountered 1,585 feet of net natural gas in about 250 feet of water 50 miles offshore. The company estimated there are 1.5- to 3 trillion cubic feet of gas initially-in-place after its discovery.

…

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