Malaysia’s O&G industry very much alive

March 6, 2014

Dateline 2014-01-27, Business Times:

SEVERAL years ago, there were suggestions that Malaysia would become a net importer of oil by this year. Will this happen?

Well, one thing for sure is that Malaysia was also predicted to become a net importer of oil and gas in 2009. And that didn’t happen.

Then, it was said again that this would happen in 2010, but as months went by, it did not happen either. The hydrocarbon continued to become the largest contributor to the Malaysian economy.

But, we should remind ourselves that hydrocarbon is not a commodity that we can manufacture or grow to sustain output. It has been produced and developed through a long period of natural process, and, of course, with God’s will.

So, whatever the predictions, efforts to make new discoveries, particularly in complex and challenging oil and gas reserves, must continue. Enhancing oil recovery in existing depleting fields and exploring opportunites in deeper water must not be overlooked either.

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Posted by Wata

Oil firms concerned over rising costs

March 5, 2014

Obviously, the aren’t concerned with the rise of consultants’ fees, seeing what they still shell out and force us to play by their rules.

Dateline 2014-01-21, Malaysian Reserve:

Rising operational costs and uncertainty over oil prices are the biggest barriers for growth for oil and gas (O&G) firms, according to most senior professionals in the sector in Asia Pacific, a study from O&G adviser DNV and Germanischer Lloyd (DNV GL) said.

A survey of more than 430 O&G professionals and interviews with more than 20 industry executives found that 90% were confident about the industry outlook in 2014 and 41% were concerned about the costs.

“As a result, operators are having to keep a tighter rein on capital expenditure, with operators undergoing pressure to extend the life of existing assets and increase the return on these investments,” the study “Challenging Climates: The outlook for the O&G industry in 2014” published by DNV GL said yesterday.

Only less than a quarter (22%) of operators in Asia Pacific believe they are on track to hit their targets this year, according to the report.

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IEM Shout Out – Overview of Gas Turbine Overhaul in Power Plant

March 5, 2014

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be having a talk on 15th March 2014. It’ll be at 9 am (makan-makan at 8:30) at Wisma IEM.

A Gas turbine is an essential machine in power plants to drive generators for producing electricity. To maintain its efficiency and reliability, a planned overhaul is required. The overhaul is carried out in the plant in a specified duration involving specialists, manpower, material and equipment while maintaining high safety standard. Thus, this overview talk will explain the participants on the basic activities involved in gas turbine overhaul in a Power Plant. It will cover the preparation, execution, commissioning, and closing out of the overhaul including the gas turbine main components.

The above will be presented by Ir. Roznan, who has been working in the power plant industry for the past 9 years as Technical Support, Project Manager, Contract Management and Customer Service.

You can register for the event here, and get the flyer here.

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Malaysia to review oil companies’ readiness to supply Euro 4 gasoline, diesel by 2015

March 4, 2014

Interesting. You ready? Dateline 2014-01-21, Platts:

Malaysia has launched a study to review the readiness of oil companies to supply Euro 4-equivalent gasoline and diesel throughout the country by 2015, an official said Tuesday.

“We have just started the study and it should be completed in two months,” an official with the Malaysia Automotive Institute under the purview of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, said.

“It will basically look at the readiness of the oil and gas industry to supply Euro 4 standard fuels by 2015,” he said, adding that the study is conducted by the MAI together with other government bodies.

Malaysia has set June 1, 2015 as the roll-out date for the new Euro 4-equivalent fuels, known as Euro 4-M, from the current Euro 2-equivalent standard.

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Shell and UAE’s Mubadala swap Malaysian offshore field stakes

March 1, 2014

Dateline 2013-01-19, Zawya:

Royal Dutch Shell and Mubadala Petroleum have swapped equity stakes in two exploration blocks off Malaysia, the Abu Dhabi-based energy company said on Sunday.

Mubadala has taken a 20 percent interest in the Shell-operated deepwater Block 2B and Shell took a 20 percent interest in the Mubadala-operated Block SK320 in return.

“The equity swap agreement is an important step for Mubadala Petroleum’s growth strategy in Malaysia and marks our first partnership in Southeast Asia with Shell, an important player in deepwater exploration,” Maurizio La Noce, chief executive of Mubadala Petroleum, said in a statement.

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Malaysia’s Trans Peninsular Pipeline Project: Will It Take Off? – Analysis

February 28, 2014

Going through Kedah and Kelantan. Not in this political lifetime.

Dateline 2014-01-16, Albany Tribune (what?):

MALAYSIA’S TRANS Peninsular Pipeline Project (TPP) between Kedah on the west coast and Kelantan on the east seems to have been revived. First proposed in 1994, the project had experienced some difficulties in the initial years and came to a halt in 2010. If realised, the 310-km pipeline will move oil from the coastal city of Yan in Kedah to Bachok in Kelantan and out to the South China Sea.

The New Straits Times reported that during the Fifth World Chinese Economic Forum held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2013, China had shown interest to revive the privately-funded TPP, estimated to cost more than US$7 billion. Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to confirm how this is to be carried out.

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Petronas takes major steps to spur industry

February 26, 2014

Dateline 2014-01-12, Yahoo! (from Business Times):

PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is undertaking major steps to rejuvenate the oil and gas industry.

The move is in the face of Malaysian oilfields now entering the mature phase, marked by declining oil and gas extraction, after more than 30 years of extensive exploration and production.

As the custodian of the country’s hydrocarbon resources, Petronas has initiated risk- sharing contracts (RSCs) for marginal oilfields over the last few years.

This is to develop resources from smaller oilfields, and at the same time, explore enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology to improve production from other fields that are maturing.

Petronas executive vice-president (exploration and production business) Datuk Wee Yiaw Hin said it is estimated that 50 per cent of Malaysia’s producing oilfields have EOR potential.

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Malaysia’s Petronas announces first oil from KBM offshore cluster fields

February 25, 2014

Platts, dateline 2014-01-13:

First production from the offshore Kapal, Banang and Meranti Cluster fields offshore peninsular Malaysia began under a Risk Service Contract on December 16, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas said Monday.

The initial production rate from the cluster averaged more than 10,000 b/d, with peak production of 13,000 b/d, Petronas said.

KBM, which is being developed by Coastal Energy of Houston in an RSC with Malaysian oil services company Petra Energy, is the third RSC to be successfully brought into production following the Balai Cluster and the Berentai fields, Petronas said.

KBM, which started development in mid-2012, is an eight-year development project, Petronas said.

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Petronas’ responsibility to ensure local company participation, says Malay economic group

February 22, 2014

Dateline 2014-01-09, the Malaysian Insider:

National oil and gas firm Petronas has the responsibility to offer contracts to qualified local companies, the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) said.

Tired of Petronas’ repeated explanation that contracts were only handed out to international firms when there are no qualified local corporations, MTEM disputed the firm’s excuse and asked the oil giant to fulfil its duty as per its objective.

“It is Petronas’ responsibility under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 to give help to the local oil and gas industry,” said MTEM chief executive officer Mohd Nizam Mashar today.
Disappointed with Petronas president Tan Sri Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas’ inaction to spur the development of local companies, Mohd Nizam said the firm’s chief had only appointed three firms for the Vendor Development Programme (VDP) during his tenure in office.

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Robust O&G Malaysian sector seen in 2014

February 21, 2014

Really? Can I get an insider from PETRONAS to say the same things?

Dateline 2014-01-09:

Local oil and gas (O&G) service providers continue to be in focus after Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) started the year with a five-year umbrella contract awarded to four engineering services contractors.

Fabricators like SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, TH Heavy Engineering Bhd,Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) and Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd were among the much-talked-about indirect beneficiaries of the contracts awarded to Technip Consultant (M) Sdn Bhd, Perunding Ranhill Worley Sdn Bhd, RNZ Integrated (M) Sdn Bhd and MMC Oil & Gas Engineering Sdn Bhd.

Petronas is expected to conduct a closed competitive bidding among the four parties to select the technically capable and commercially attractive bidder, with the work scope covering domestic upstream O&G engineering services, including front-end engineering design and detailed design works, of which generally run into multi-billion-dollar contracts.

This is part of the national oil company’s RM300bil capital expenditure budget till 2017 in a bid to reverse declining production.

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