UMW Oil & Gas continues to SIZZLE after debut

December 31, 2013

Dateline 2013-11-05, Malaysia Chronicle:

UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd, which made its debut on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia last Friday, continued to sizzle on the back of investor confidence of its swelling order book.

Contracts clinched by the group will contribute to its compounded annual growth forecasts between now and 2015.

Its shares closed seven sen higher yesterday at RM3.17, which is 37 sen higher than its initial public offering price of RM2.80.

“UMW Oil & Gas is set to grab a slice of the pie in the region’s oil exploration activities tendered by Petronas, as well as others in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar.


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?


Petronas Gas boosted by robust regasification segment

December 29, 2013

Dateline 2013-11-02, Borneo Post:

Petronas Gas Bhd (Petronas Gas) saw a boost in its earnings driven by the recognition of deferred tax assets arising from an investment tax allowance granted for its liquefied natural gas  (LNG) regasification terminal in Melaka.

In addition, the company is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of rising gas demand as the additional gas volume will pass through its Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) pipeline.

Analyst June Ng from HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn Bhd (HwangDBS Research) said that the earnings boost from Melaka regasification plant was driven by higher gas transportation revenue and contribution.


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.


Petronas finds new gas deposits in S’wak, Sumatra, Australia

December 27, 2013

Dateline 2013-10-31, The Star:

Petronas today announced new gas discoveries in three of its upstream ventures in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

In a statement today, it said the first discovery was via the Pegaga-1 well in Block SK320, offshore Sarawak, which is operated by Mubadala Petroleum through a Malaysian affiliate.

The Pegaga-1 well is located about 250 km northwest of Bintulu, in a water depth of 108 metres.

“The operator plans to conduct further drilling to determine the volume of the discovery and the gas quality,” the company said.

Its unit, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd has a 25% interest in the block.


Firm debut for UMW Oil & Gas amid cautious market

December 26, 2013

Yes, ancient history.

Dateline 2013-11-01, The Star:

UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd (UMW O&G) made a firm debut on theMain Board of Bursa Malaysia on Friday, rising to a high of RM3.05, which is 25 sen above its final retail price of RM2.80.

It opened at RM3. At 9.01am, it was trading at RM3.03, up 23 sen. There were 27.47 million shares done.

The FBM KLCI fell 4.04 points to 1,802.81. Turnover was 52.18 million shares valued at RM95.05mil. There were 71 gainers, 64 losers and 107 counters unchanged.

 

 


The price of energy

December 24, 2013

Dateline 2013-10-30, The Star:

DURING the British Prime Minister’s question time in the British House of Commons last Wednesday, the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Opposition Leader Ed Miliband had a heated debate over energy prices in Britain. This debate is not something new in Britain as for the past few months, British political parties have been coming up with ideas to try to bring down energy prices. In fact, rising energy prices is a global
phenomenon due to the soaring global fuel prices and the same is true for us here in Malaysia.

But why do the global fuel prices affect our electricity bills? This a valid thought, but it might be worthwhile reflecting deeper on how this connection works. It all comes down to how electricity is produced.

In Malaysia electricity is produced through four main sources – liquified natural gas (LNG), coal, petroleum, and hydro power. The most recent estimates put LNG at around 46 percent of the generation mix while coal and oil make up 52 percent, and the remainder being hydro. This means that almost all the power produced in the country is subject to the prices of LNG, oil or coal, since these are the primary energy sources.


Petronas’ new Malaysian crude oil official selling price

December 22, 2013

Dateline 2013-10-23, The Star:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd will implement a new Malaysian Crude Oil Official Selling Price with effect from Jan 1, 2014.

It said on Wednesday the new price will be based on a basket of Malaysian crude oil, namely Labuan, Miri Light and Kikeh.

“It is also envisaged that this crude basket shall include Kimanis crude oil in the future,” it said.

Petronas added that the Tapis Blend, Bintulu and Dulang crude oil will continue to have their own OSP, which would continue to be reported on a monthly basis.

It also said it would continue to price all its Malaysian crude oil against Dated Brent.


2014 an exciting year for O&G players

December 20, 2013

Dateline 2013-10-21, Borneo Post Online:

Following the discoveries of new oil and gas (O&G) reserves, 2013 has been a year packed with contracts driven nation-wide projects which led to a string of contracts awarded to various O&G players.

Encouraging performances in the O&G sector in 2013 has signals that 2014 is going to be another robust year with more contracts that focuses on engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) and engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCIC) activities expected to be awarded to local and regional O&G players.

Analyst Aaron Tan from the research arm of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) highlighted that so far 2013 has been a year packed with awards of contracts, new oil and gas discoveries, and possibly more mergers and acquisitions to expand and strengthen income streams.

“We can expect a good mix of local, regional and international jobs to be awarded to Malaysian O&G players and we can expect Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) to keep the momentum going as it pushes for more deepwater, high pressure, high temperature, and high carbon dioxide oil fields,” he said in the research firm’s monthly review and outlook of the O&G industry report.


Gas: Fueling the future of energy

December 17, 2013

Have a look at the original article, there’s a neat diagram of how gas is prepped for end users.

Dateline 2013-10-20, Borneo Post online:

As global demand for energy grows in tandem with the rapid growth of population particularly in urban areas, energy players such as the oil and gas (O&G) industry are constantly looking for ways to meet this demand by expanding its portfolio to mitigate the dependability on declining natural resources.

“For Malaysia, the foremost energy challenge lies in meeting rising demand, whilst at the same time domestic production continues to experience natural decline,” Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) chief executive officer Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas said in Petronas ‘Our Energy Future’ report.

While oil continues to be a key energy resource in Malaysia, its dwindling global supply and volatile global prices have led to the gradual focus on the rich gas resources in the nation.

Gas, according to Petronas, has the potential to be a game-changer for the energy-hungry economies of the Asia-Pacific region as the resource is geographically diffused and environmentally beneficial compared with fossil fuels.