IEM Shout Out – Talk on Aboveground Atmospheric Hydrocarbons Storage Tanks Maintenance for Lifespan Expansion

June 10, 2014

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be having a talk on Saturday 14th June, 2014 by Ir. Alzakri Ekhwan. It’ll be at 9:00am (makan-makan at 8.30am) at Wisma IEM.

Aboveground storage tanks are significant assets and commonly found in oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Tanks which are used for storing hydrocarbons are considerably critical and must be diligently maintained throughout their operating life to ensure no leaks or catastrophic failures occur. Maintenance programmes are usually in place but executing these programmes are not as simple as what we normally think.

The talk will provide a sharing of tank experiences and maintenance practices on:
•    On-Line Repair (Non Standard Repair) 
•    Tank Out-of-Service Maintenance.

It will also touch on ways of extending the lifespan of existing atmospheric storage tanks througheffective maintenance regimes. These include approaches in tackling floating roof pontoon leak, desludging of crude oil using non man-entry method, dealing with Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and conducting middle shell course replacement method safely and cost effectively

 

Ir. Alzakri Ekhwan is a Principal Engineer for Static Unfired Equipment based in PETRONAS Penapisan (Melaka) Sdn. Bhd. (PP(M)SB) and has more than 20 years of experience in maintenance, design, fabrication, inspection and construction of Static Equipment in the Oil and Gas industry. He was the Staff Engineer and Field Engineering Manager for MG3 Lube Base Oil (MG3) Project and Hydrogen Processing Unit 2 (HPU-2) Project. Prior to that, he was a Senior Inspection Engineer of PETRONAS Penapisan (Melaka) Sdn Bhd and Head of Mechanical Section of PETRONAS Methanol (Labuan) Sdn Bhd.

You can register here and download the flyer here.

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Saturday Star 2014-06-07 – Job Opportunities

June 9, 2014

Happy School Holidays.

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. Also looking for technical safety persons, metering / measurement engineers and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
  • ExxonMobil is still looking for technicians. That would be of flavours I&E, Mechanical, Production. Submit your whoppers/  life stories to http://www.exxonmobil.com/careers/my.

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!

Food choice of the week? How if you visit Vietnam, how about visiting and updating GoHalalVietnam! for your food needs. For your other needs, talk to your local tour guide/ concierge / man on the street.

Some books for you to turn those bad numbers’ frown upside down.

  

Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception, Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks, How to Lie with Statistics

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‘No over-reliance on Petronas for contract handouts”

June 8, 2014

I want over reliance. Which foo’ is talking? Dateline 2014-04-18, Borneo Post.

Analysts observed that there is no over-reliance by local oil and gas (O&G) firms on national O&G corp Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) for contract handouts.

To note, contract flows for Bursa Malaysia-listed oil and gas (O&G) service providers remains stable this year at RM13 billion, which is 19 per cent higher compared with the Jan-April period in 2013, says analyst Aaron Tan of the research arm of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research).

“We note that only a relatively small portion (6.2 per cent) of jobs awarded this year had emanated from Petronas, with majority coming from international O&G firms.

“This proves that there is no over-reliance of local O&G firms on Petronas for contract handouts. Main beneficiaries in March to April 2014 were Bumi Armada Bhd (Bumi Armada), SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SapuraKencana), UMW Oil & Gas Corporation Bhd, Uzma Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, Handal Resources Bhd and Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd.

“In light of this, companies’ orderbooks have grown substantially.”

…

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JCorp to make oil and gas core business

June 7, 2014

PetroJ? JetPetrol? JCP? Can you get more MRSM Muar alumni into this deal?

Dateline 2014-04-18, Malaysia Chronicle:

Johor Corporation (JCorp), which expects to list its oil and gas unit E.A. Technique (M) Bhd by the third quarter of this year, expects to make oil and gas its core business by 2017, according to its president and CEO Datuk Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim (pix).

“We have to build our foundation first, hopefully by 2016 or 2017, it (oil and gas business) will become our core business,” he told a press conference here yesterday in conjunction with the launch of its 2013 annual report.

“Now we’re providing liquid jetty services and developing for marine support activities at our Tanjung Langsat port and industrial complex, which could complement the Pengerang Terminal project.

“As long as Petronas continues with its investment, the state has a role to make sure the development of the area will be according to the plan,” Kamaruzzaman added.

…

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Oil India said to plan bid for $2 billion Murphy Malaysia assets

June 5, 2014

Hmm.

Dateline 2014-04-16, Mint & TWSJ:

Oil India Ltd (OIL), the nation’s second-biggest state-run explorer, is weighing a bid for part of Murphy Oil Corp.’s assets in Malaysia, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The producer is interested in buying about a 30% stake in Murphy Oil’s assets in the Southeast Asian nation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The holding may be valued at least at $2 billion, the people said.
India’s government-run oil companies are building on their record $5.5 billion of acquisitions last year to secure supplies for Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer. Oil India, which had $2.1 billion of cash at the end of September, is also studying an acquisition of Nigerian oil and gas assets owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc valued at as much as $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said last week.

…

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IChemE 5th Regional Process Safety Seminar

June 4, 2014

The  IChemE 5th Regional Process Safety Seminar was held in Miri Marriot Spa & Resort, Miri Sarawak, Malaysia on the 22nd April, 2014. I hope the attendees were entertained and energised by my 5 minute presentation.

The following are my quick notes of the Q&A session are as follows (all misunderstandings are mine):

Keynote address: Process Safety Matters – why chemical engineers must lead the way in getting the right safety priorities on the agenda.
Keynote speaker: Judith Hackitt CBE, Chair of HSE, Britain.

  • Leading indicators are important. For example, number of temporary measures to address process / hardware failures, amount of delayed maintenance.
  • Number of Loss of Containment (LOC) incidents is not an indicator of process safety.
  • Q: Transfer of UK HSE knowledge wholesale to Malaysia.
  • Q: What is the best model to achieve safe operations, is it voluntary and regulatory regulations, and where does the safety case fit in?
  • Q: How best to share safety information. Are legal/ commercial concerns stemming the flow of information?
  • Q: Options on building a reporting culture in Malaysia and Asia.

Paper 1: Process Safety Implementation – Challenges and Success Stories
Speaker: Dr. Bea Ponnudurai, Head, Group HSE Division, PETRONAS.

  •  Information transfer between Gen Y and earlier generations. Gen Y may have a problem communicating.

Paper 2: I Get The Case for Safety – What About The Safety Case; what senior leaders need to know and do to ensure the robust implementation of the Safety Case
Speaker: Martin W. Iversen AFIChemE, Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Operational Assurance Manager, Talisman.

  • Q: How do you make a safety case for things that have never happened before?
  • Q: Challenge ourselves in creating these hypothetical cases, get external input.
  • Q: How do I implement and prioritize a Remedial Action Plan?

Paper 3: Getting The Balance Right – or Feel The Strain
Speaker: Paul Heierman-Rix, Principal Consultant, MMI Engineering.

  • Suggest independent review of the safety cases, i.e. other than the author (I like).
  • Are the Safety Case and COMAH similar, what are the differences? Suggest principles are the same.

Paper 4: Incidents That Happened That Blamed Human Error
Speaker: Roger Ainsworth CEng CSci CEnv FIChemE, General Manager, Megamas Training Company Sdn Bhd.

  • How do we treat old plants? They should be given more supervision and attention then new ones.

Paper 5: Using The Success Of Operational Safety “Life Saving Rules” Into Process Safety
Speaker: Willem Peuscher, HSE Delivery Manager, Shell Malaysia Exploration and Production.

  • Q: Incident happens at least expected times. How do we account for this? Focus on key messages and life saving rules.
  • Full enforcement of life saving rules.

 

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IEM Shout Out – Talk on Aboveground Atmospheric Hydrocarbons Storage Tanks Maintenance for Lifespan Expansion

June 3, 2014

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be having a talk on Saturday 14th June, 2014 by Ir. Alzakri Ekhwan. It’ll be at 9:00am (makan-makan at 8.30am) at Wisma IEM.

Aboveground storage tanks are significant assets and commonly found in oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Tanks which are used for storing hydrocarbons are considerably critical and must be diligently maintained throughout their operating life to ensure no leaks or catastrophic failures occur. Maintenance programmes are usually in place but executing these programmes are not as simple as what we normally think.

The talk will provide a sharing of tank experiences and maintenance practices on:
•    On-Line Repair (Non Standard Repair) 
•    Tank Out-of-Service Maintenance.

It will also touch on ways of extending the lifespan of existing atmospheric storage tanks througheffective maintenance regimes. These include approaches in tackling floating roof pontoon leak, desludging of crude oil using non man-entry method, dealing with Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and conducting middle shell course replacement method safely and cost effectively

 

Ir. Alzakri Ekhwan is a Principal Engineer for Static Unfired Equipment based in PETRONAS Penapisan (Melaka) Sdn. Bhd. (PP(M)SB) and has more than 20 years of experience in maintenance, design, fabrication, inspection and construction of Static Equipment in the Oil and Gas industry. He was the Staff Engineer and Field Engineering Manager for MG3 Lube Base Oil (MG3) Project and Hydrogen Processing Unit 2 (HPU-2) Project. Prior to that, he was a Senior Inspection Engineer of PETRONAS Penapisan (Melaka) Sdn Bhd and Head of Mechanical Section of PETRONAS Methanol (Labuan) Sdn Bhd.

You can register here and download the flyer here.

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Posted by Wata

Saturday Star 2014-05-31 – Job Opportunities

June 2, 2014

Happy Vung Tau Week (really, I’m still here).

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. Also looking for technical safety persons, metering / measurement engineers and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
  • ExxonMobil is looking for technicians. That would be of flavours I&E, Mechanical, Production. Submit your life stories to http://www.exxonmobil.com/careers/my.

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!

If you need electronic equipment sorted out, may I suggest RHS Star, No. 22 (Unit 1), Jalan Puchong Permai 2, Taman Puchong Permai, 47100.
Since I had just noted the passing of Trevor Kletz, I would like to suggest that this week you dedicate to purchasing books written by him:

What Went Wrong?, Fifth Edition: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided (Butterworth-Heinemann/IChemE), Still Going Wrong!: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided, Process Plants: A Handbook for Inherently Safer Design, Second Edition

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Shell Announces Malaysia Deep-Water Gas Discovery

May 30, 2014

Dateline 2014-04-17, Marketwatch:

Shell RDS.A -0.57% RDS.B -0.62% today announced an exploration discovery offshore Malaysia. The successful ‘Rosmari-1’ well is located 135 kilometres offshore in Block SK318, and was drilled to a total depth of 2,123 metres. The well encountered more than 450 metres of gas column. With further exploration planned, the finding is a positive indicator of the gas potential in an area of strategic interest for Shell.

“Rosmari-1 is a testament to our ability to successfully drill and build understanding of new geology within our existing exploration heartlands, adding value to our existing assets in Malaysia,” said Andy Brown, Director Shell Upstream International. “We are expanding and rejuvenating heartlands across our exploration portfolio, including in Brunei, Australia and the Gulf of Mexico.”

…

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Maximising O&G output

May 29, 2014

Dateline 2014-04-14, NST:

Petronas looks to deepwater projects, risk service contracts and unconventional gas sources

PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is focusing on deepwater projects, risk service contracts (RSC) and unconventional gas sources internationally to increase energy supplies and earnings.

The national oil company believes that there is still upside potential in every aspect of the oil and gas industry in Malaysia and overseas.

…

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Posted by Wata

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