Petrol Prices Drop in Malaysia

December 18, 2008

Quoting from the New Straits Times on the 15th Dec, 2008

The price of fuel is reduced further by 10 sen a litre from midnight tonight. The price of RON97 is now RM1.80 from RM1.90 and RON92 at RM1.70 (from RM1.70) and diesel at RM1.70 (from RM1.80).

 Linking to my other article on comparative pricing, the US gas price on 15th Dec is RM1.569 per liter (USD1.667 per gallon).

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Oil & Gas Buildings – Construction Phase

December 6, 2008

I managed to take photos of these buildings while they were under construction. Do they look familiar?

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Comparison – Dental Checkup and Painting Preparation

December 2, 2008

As I stared at the dentist’s hands during my way overdue dental checkup, I was thinking how two different procedures had pretty much the same steps, but end up with two entirely different results:

  • We start of with the scaling of the teeth, which I think is equivalent to the gross chipping away of gunk and stuff from the metal surface that is being prepared for painting. And believe me, on an old oil platform, gunk accumulates.
  • The next set is the polishing of teeth, which I would liken to brushing a surface with a powered metal brush to remove existing paint and corrosion from the surface to be painted. The difference is that polishing leaves a smooth surface, whereas the brush leaves a rough one.
  • The last set, and a new one for me, was air polishing of my teeth, which utilizes a non contact jet of tiny sodium bicarbonate particles and distilled water lifting stains from tooth surfaces. I would say that this is similar to the blasting of a surface to remove the big irregularities and provide a better surface for the paint to grip. And air polishing feels weird on the tongue, believe me.

Again, the difference is that one procedure ends with a surface which is smooth, and one ends with a surface that is rough.

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Offshore Fatality – Peninsular Malaysia

November 30, 2008

Apparently, an offshore operations hand was climbing a ladder to retrieve an item from a height. No one is sure what happened as the person was alone when the incident happened, but he was found on the floor, presumably with the ladder next them.

We don’t really consider ladders as a safety risk no matter how many times it’s drilled into us. Please practice safe use of tools, and follow safety guides and common sense.

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IEM Shout Out – Talk on Asset Integrity Management Setup

November 28, 2008

This is a late shout out for the IEM. My technical division will be having a talk tomorrow entitled ‘Setting Up of an Asset Integrity Management System for Offshore Oil & Gas Platforms’. It’ll be at 9:30 am (breakfast at 9:00) at the IEM Conference Hall, Bangunan Ingenieur, PJ.

The talk will be given by Mr. Praba Karunakaran, IICOR Asia. He is a Chartered Engineer with over 8 years of international work experience in the field of Oil and Gas Facilities Integrity Management. He attained Engineering Masters and Degree qualifications from UK (Scottish) Universities. He is familiar with Integrity Management Systems applicable to onshore and subsea pipeline, topside and subsea structure, remote subsea equipment, pressure relieving devices, topside static mechanical equipment and piping, lifting and safety equipment.

Please come, I’m sure it’ll be interesting.

A copy of the flier is available here.

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Petrol Prices Drop in Malaysia

November 21, 2008

Taken from the pages of Bernama and The Star Malaysia:

Fuel down by 15sen (updated)

KUALA LUMPUR (Tues, Nov 18): Petrol and diesel will be sold 15sen cheaper per litre from Tuesday onwards following the Government’s decision to lower fuel prices in tandem with the downward trend of global oil prices.

The pump price of RON97 petrol will be RM2 a litre from RM2.15 while the retail price of RON92 petrol and diesel is RM1.90 a litre, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said in a statement on Monday.

The new prices are effective from midnight Monday.

He said this is the fifth downward revision since August in honouring the Government’s promise to the people to lower fuel prices if oil prices dwindled in the world market.

Najib hoped traders would also lower prices of goods and services following the reduction in fuel prices to enable the people to reap the full benefits of cheaper fuel.

The people should continue to use petrol and diesel sparingly despite the lower price in line with the government’s efficient energy consumption plan, said Najib, who is also Finance Minister.

Fuel prices were last reduced on Nov 1. – Bernama

Linking to my other article on comparative pricing, the US gas price on 18th Nov is RM1.97 per liter (USD2.075 per gallon). You wonder, why do we have a subsidy if our prices are the same as US prices?

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Saturday Star 2008-11-15 – Job Opportunities

November 17, 2008

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:

  • Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
  • ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Malaysia Inc (who says I can’t remember names of my former masters) have an add for an elec engineer, facilities eng (aka ‘Swiss army knife engineer’), instrumentation and controls eng, process eng. Apply here.
  • QP is looking for a lot of people. Among them are Gas Production Dept: Snr Maintenance Opns Eng, Offshore Installation Supt. Transmission & Distribution Dept: Lead Process Eng, Snr Project Process Eng, Snr Opns Eng. Terminal Opns Dept: Maint Planning Eng, Snr Process Eng. You can visit the QP website. Did I tell you that QP’s SWB (salary, wages, benefits) package is something to be sneezed at?
  • Noble Denton  is looking for an engineer, with a degree in Naval Arch, Offshore Eng, Marine Eng or Mech Eng. At least 5 years working experience in O&G offshore. You can email to ndm@nobledenton.com.my
  • Kencana Petroleum is looking for design engineers – process, mech, piping, electrical, instrument and civil/structural, which about covers the whole spectrum. They are also looking for project engineers and managers. Send CVs via snail mail to The Managing Director, Kencana Bestwide Sdn Bhd, Megan Avenue II, Unit B-11-11, No. 12 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.

Sigh, when I move with Synergy to Subang, will you patronise Chee Meng in my memory?

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Dangers of Unapproved Modification – NGV

November 16, 2008

Here’s an article from the Star.

Man killed in NGV explosion

By CHEN PELF YEEN and ALLISON LAI

MALACCA: Two brothers who converted a cooking gas tank into a natural gas kit for their van paid dearly when it exploded, killing one of them.

Mohd Hailmi Ishak, 25, from Kampung Duyong, and his brother Rosli Ishak, 30, from Taman Tiang Dua, had stopped at a PETRONAS petrol station in Batu Berendam at about 7.50pm on Friday to refuel.

Their worker Razali Md Zin, 31, was with them.

It is believed that Rosli, the driver, was refilling the van at the natural gas vehicle (NGV) stand while his younger brother was standing nearby when the blast happened.

The explosion shattered the front portion and two doors of the vehicle.

It shattered Mohd Hailmi’s left leg and ripped open his abdomen while Rosli and Razali escaped with light injuries.

You see a lot of this jury rigging work offshore, difference is, the jury rigging is engineered as opposed to ‘try and see lah’ philosophy. Thing’s I’ve done are:

  • Use a flange that had a higher than required rating.
  • Use a smaller than design size valve (it’s okay, the process flow had been reduced).
  • Use a process compressor for other than it’s intended use (don’t worry, risk analysis was performed).
  • Route liquid to different vessels (there’s a whole story behind this one).

This is where your engineering (and presentation and persuation) skills are called to the forefront.

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Cool Photo – Grinding

November 14, 2008

I thought this was a cool photo, testing out how well my manual photography exposure skills were working.

Construction grinding work

Construction grinding work

While taking this photo, I guess I was being observed by 2 HSE supervisors. I don’t know, maybe they though I was running a HSE investigation. Anyhow, they tailed me till I left the site, though they didn’t interfere with the work I was commissioned to do there. Very nice of them.

In the spirit of safety, notice that the grinding area has been barricaded off with tape

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Rambling Advice on Seeking Employment

November 12, 2008

I’ve compiled some of the advice I’ve given people. Take it with large doses of salt (BTW, this term came about when it was believed salt was an antidote to most poisons. Good thing chem eng came about, eh?):

  • Let’s be realisitic. Is it hard to get work in the O&G industry, or is it just as hard to get work anywhere? You need to look at your qualifications and grades, your presentation skills (oral and written), your target job (highest pay not matching your skills and aptitude), your letters (writing ‘I want to join your prestigious company’ when you write to a two man startup in Subang shows lack of particular interest, not to mention lack of research). And tawakkal. Also, most companies only inform short listed candidates of success.
  • As for working outside the office, a support engineer role  would be your best bet. Look at the papers for openings, esp. companies that supply good after sales service, turbomachinery, DCS systems, specialist measurement equipment.

A second option would be working for the PSC companies. Woohoo, you get more site experience then you want after a few years if you end up being a facilities or operations engineer.

  • There are positions for persons (telecomm) in oil and gas. What do you consider when you mean O&G? Some big telecom companies have an O&G division. If you have customers who supply products to O&G, then that’s a way in. You can try adverts in the papers, or on the Net.

If you mean that you want to work for a big multinational that operates O&G assets, then you may be limiting yourself, as telecom is a small part of opns. If you have electronics or systems background, then that give you a larger opening.

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