Rafizi: Sarawakian quota in Petronas does more harm than good

September 8, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-05, FMT:

PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli believes introducing quotas for Sarawakians in Petronas’ operations in Sarawak will do them more harm than good.

Referring to Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s suggestion yesterday that Petronas have a 70 per cent quota of home-grown management and middle management staff in the state’s operations, Rafizi said he understood the sentiments of Sarawakians, but imposing such quotas could be detrimental to the staff.

“All Petronas executives are taken from the company’s headquarters and reassigned to the various units and subsidiaries around the world, as the oil company’s operations covered upstream, gas, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), oil refineries, petrochemicals, and downstream activities, such as marketing and international trade.

…

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IEM Shout Out – Talk on “Gaslift System Optimization”

September 7, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a talk on the 21st September, 2016. It is worth 2 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. The course will be presented by Ir. Ridhuan Affandi bin Abu Bakar.

Gas lift is one of the most widely used artificial lift techniques. It plays an important role in Malaysia’s oil fields production, as around 70% of active oil production strings are currently on gas lift. This shows how critical gas lift contribution to sustain Malaysia’s oil production. It is important to have good practices in gas lift implementation to ensure successful and optimum gas lift operation. Sub-optimized gas lift operation not only wastes the valuable gas resources and compression capacity but also resulting in a system bottleneck, if the planning for gas lift is not in place. Gas lift optimization can bring value for immediate and significant production gain and perceived as the most cost effective in production enhancement.

As the efficiency of overall gas lift system is much dependent on network integration between subsurface and surface system, a holistic view on performance and setup of each system is crucial to obtain optimum gas lift operation.

This talk will cover and discuss the gaps identification in the current gas lift implementation from the Surface Engineering’s perspective. The recommendation and best practices for gas lift optimization effort with associated oil gain will also be discussed and shared in this talk

Ir. Ridhuan Affandi bin Abu Bakar graduated from Universiti Putra Malaysia with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He has 10 years of working experience in the engineering industry, covering the design of onshore and offshore facilities. He has involved in conceptual, FEED (Front End Engineering Design), detailed design and modification projects for various types of structures (including wellhead platforms, central processing platforms, FPSO, production-drilling platforms and living quarter (PDQ)

He has worked on a number of projects globally including Singapore, Vietnam, United Kingdom and Iran. Recently, he has represented PETRONAS MPM (Malaysia Petroleum Management) to conduct assessment and evaluation on gas lift operation for the selected fields and Oil & Gas Operators in Malaysia.

He is currently a Process Specialist who provides consultancy services to the Oil & Gas industry.

Register here, or download the form here.

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Kinabalu climbs helped raise RM300,000: Firm

September 6, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-05, Daily Express:

Repsol Oil & Gas Malaysia Limited has sent 27 company staff to the peak of Mount Kinabalu since 2013 to raise funds for welfare bodies in Sabah.

All the successful ascents had raised nearly RM300,000 meant for various bodies in the State, Company Stakeholder Relations Malaysia Manager Farid Jaafar said.

“In Repsol, we promote volunteerism among our staff and in Sabah, we have been organising annual expeditions on Mount Kinabalu, where our staff will climb to raise funds.”

Speaking during the company’s Hari Raya Aidil Fitri Open House, Thursday, Farid said as a corporate citizen, Repsol Malaysia will continue implementing community services with other government and non-government agencies in order to help raise the socio-economy of the locals.

The four key programmes are on education, safety, health and healthy lifestyle and human capital development, he said.

The open house was attended by Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and his consort, both of whom presented ‘duit raya’ to 50 orphans and children with special needs on behalf of the company.

…

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Saturday Star 2016-09-03– Job Opportunities

September 5, 2016

Happy normal working week.

Donate to your favorite charity (me), buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (3 books until I can get YTP republished). Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me, my camera dive case flooded, and I need a new replacement. Heck, if you want to send me a Canon 5D Mk III plus dive case, I will not say no.

  • A mate of mine is looking for a MD/EngMan type person to help run his engineering company (the main business is skid manufacturing). He can’t handle the work volume, so you know that his oil & gas company is bucking the trend, and has a bright future ahead. If I know you, send your CV’s to me. If I don’t know you, send your CV along anyway, but note I will contact your references. I am not getting a commission for this ad, you know.
  • I have a feeling that The Star isn’t the preferred O&G job recruitment portal now. I see more adverts via social media. What do you think, is it a step change that the papers need to embrace?
  • I’m looking for jobs for 4Q2016. Send me your POs.

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? Any weight loss diet.

Let’s get a bit nostalgic with the book selection.

Wetter, Louder, Stickier: A Baby Blues Collection (Baby Blues Scrapbook), BBXX: Baby Blues: Decades 1 & 2, Bedlam

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Petronas told to give jobs to Sarawakians first

September 4, 2016

How the whole thing started.

Dateline 2016-08-04, FMT:

The Suarah Petroleum Group (SPG), a Sarawakian non-profit organisation, wants Petronas to prioritise Sarawakians in filling vacancies in the oil company’s operations in the state.

According to a Borneo Post Online report, SPG president Hamin Yusuf said the retrenchment of 13 experienced Sarawakian staff in an upstream restructuring exercise, reflected a ‘quick fix’ mentality of Petronas’ management, as they could have been re-skilled.

“Petronas’ policy towards the state seems to reflect a lack of sensitivity and reality to the local job market and employment of locals.

“As recently as two months ago, 85 positions in Malaysia Liquid Natural Gas in Bintulu were filled mostly by Peninsular Malaysians under the pretext of ‘redeployment’”.

Hamin said these positions were mostly entry-level positions or junior managerial positions which could have easily been filled by jobless Sarawakian graduates.

…

 

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Retail oil prices: no hidden tax, says johari

September 3, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-04, Borneo Post Online:

The retail prices of petrol and diesel for the month of August are set under the managed float mechanism as promised by the government with no hidden taxes involved, says Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani.

He was responding to claims by opposition MP Rafizi Ramli that oil prices are manipulated to enable the government to collect ‘hidden taxes’.

Speaking to reporters at a Hari Raya Aidilfitri function organised by Perbadanan Nasional Bhd here yesterday, Johari said the prices of RON95 and RON97 petrol for August were maintained at RM1.75 and RM2.10 a litre respectively while diesel price was raised by 10 sen to RM1.80 a litre.

Johari said although crude oil prices on the market were quite high in June and July, the government did not raise retail oil prices for the two months out of concern and consideration for the people.

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Malaysia’s THHE Receives More Winding-Up Calls

September 2, 2016

I reaaaallly hope I don’t have to do this to get my money:

Dateline 2016-08-01, Rigzone:

Malaysia’s TH Heavy Engineering Berhad, a fabricator of offshore oil and gas facilities, disclosed Friday that winding-up petitions against the firm have been presented July 26 to The Kuala Lumpur High Court of Malaya from two companies for work completed, including that for a floating production facility to be deployed to the Layang field in Block SK10 off Sarawak, it said in separate filings with local stock exchange Bursa Malaysia.

The first winding-up petition was served by Nusapetro Sdn Bhd, with the firm seeking $399,001 (MYR 1,605,285), inclusive of interest rate, from TTHE. Nusapetro said the amount is for the supply of API610 centrifugal pumps package for the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) Layang project.

Bicara Sepakat Sdn Bhd also submitted a winding-up petition against TTHE’s 70 percent owned subsidiary THHE Fabricators Sdn Bhd, claiming $238,830.69 (MYR 960,877.98) inclusive of interest rate for the provision of piping fabrication, installation, hydrotest and reinstatement works.

“Except for the amount claimed, THHE is not expected to incur any further losses from the winding-up petition,” TTHE said in separate announcements, adding that it will seek necessary legal advice on the matter with a view of defeating the petition.

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IEM Shout Out – 2016-10 One-Day Course on “Offshore Sand Separation, Design, Operation and Maintenance”

September 1, 2016

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting the above workshop on Thursday 29th September, 2016 by Mr. Hilmi Isa and Eow John Son.

n the upstream offshore oil & gas production, effective and efficient sand separation and management are vital, since the presence of sand and solids in wellhead production lines are likely to cause erosion and blockage issues in the subsequent downstream equipment at production platforms. As a consequence, dangerous incidents, such as the failures of flowlines, production vessels and control valves, have a higher risk of occurring. Moreover, oily sand discharged into the sea is also an environmental concern.

This full-day course is designed to educate the participants on the engineering design, operation and maintenance of the technologies for the removal and cleaning of the sand and solids prior to discharge. Proven sand removal technologies, such as wellhead desanders, produced water desandinghydrocyclones, sand fluidisers, and sand cleaning systems are commonly used in the upstream oil & gas production. However, these sand removal and cleaning systems need to be designed and operated correctly to ensure optimized separation performance.

Mr. Hilmi Isa is Managing Director and Principal Trainer of EDES Technology Sdn Bhd. Hilmi has worked in the oil & gas industry for 20 years specializing in mechanical and process designs for production and processing equipment. Hilmi has worked as Lead Mechanical Engineer for many upstream oil & gas projects, covering wellhead desanders, produced water treatment, sand separation and management, seawater treatment, multiphase production separators, fuel gas treatment, and glycol gas dehydration. Hilmi is also well-versed in the PETRONAS Technical Standards (PTS) and the SHELL DEP Standards. He has also successfully conducted technical training programs for PETRONAS and SHELL engineers and operators. EDES has successfully completed process packages for major clients, such as PETRONAS, SARAWAK SHELL, MURPHY OIL MALAYSIA, SAPURAKENCANA PETROLEUM, TALISMAN, CAMERON MALAYSIA, WOOD GROUP, etc.

Ir. Dr. Eow John Son is Principal Engineer & Trainer with EDES Technology Sdn Bhd. He is also a Professional Engineer (BEM), and a Chartered Engineer (Engineering Council, UK). He obtained his PhD (in electrostatic water-oil separation) from the UK, and has published many technical papers in international journals and conferences. Having spent many years in multinational companies, and having worked in the UK, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia, John is well-versed in the oil & gas processes and production technologies, such as Wellhead Desander, Produced Water Treatment, Sand Separation & Management, Crude Oil Treatment, and Gas Processing for the upstream oil & gas Industry. He has worked from Technical and Commercial Proposal Stage to Detailed Engineering Stage to Commissioning Stage to Production Troubleshooting for oil & gas processes. John has conducted technical training and consultancy work for engineers and operators at Saudi Aramco, PETRONAS, Sarawak SHELL, GAIL India, etc. He is also an Assistant Professor at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).

You can register here. Flyers may be obtained here.

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IEM Shout Out – Technical Writing Workshop 2016-10

September 1, 2016

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting the above seminar on the 4th and 5th October, 2016, presented by Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran.

This two day course is designed to help you develop skills that will enable you to produce clear and effective technical documents. We will focus on the basic principles of good writing which technical writing shares with other forms of writing and on types of documents common in technical fields and organizations. While the emphasis will be on writing of technical information, oral communication will also form an important component of the course as well.

Participants learn the protocol for proper technical report writing. Subjects include punctuation, grammar and research techniques, as well as the creation of title pages, tables of contents, format pages, glossaries and appendices. It will also cover other common engineering documents such as specifications, technical reports, operating manuals and emails. The workshop will also emphasize style, tone and the importance of writing in plain, comprehensible English.

As a great deal of class time will be spent in a variety of interactive formats, active participation is essential.

 

Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran, PEng, MIEM, CEng, MIMechE graduated from University Teknologi Malaysia in 2001 with Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons), subsequently, pursued his Master Degree in University of Malaya. He has published in international journals and conferences in the past. His career has a diverse outlook on project execution ranging from building construction, marine, mining and energy industry; as a mechanical engineer. He is also a Chartered Engineer of Engineering Council UK and Corporate Member of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK).

You can register for the above event here, and flyers may be obtained here.

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Malaysia’s Petronas says fire put out at LNG complex

August 31, 2016

Done and done.

Dateline 2016-07-30, Reuters:

Malaysia’s state-owned state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd said on Saturday that a fire occurred at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The fire broke out at 0140 GMT at a transformer in the Bintulu LNG complex and was extinguished, a company statement said.

…

 

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