Sarawak to ease demands on oil royalty in light of price slump, says Chief Minister

February 27, 2016

Dateline 2016-01-11, Malay Mail:

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said he will delay pushing Putrajaya to increase oil royalty payments to his state, after the falling price of the commodity forced the federal government to revise its Budget for the year.

“The present oil price is now under US$35 per barrel against US$115 per barrel over a year ago, so we have to go slow in our demand until the price has gone up to a certain level,” he said at the signing of a contract agreement between Talisman Malaysia Limited and OceanMight Sdn Bhd.

The contract is for the engineering procurement construction of a wellhead platform for the Kinabalu redevelopment project here.

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Posted by Wata

Petronas bracing for 3 more years of pain

February 26, 2016

Dateline 2016-01-12, TMI:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd is bracing for two to three more tough years as the Malaysian state oil company grapples with crude at an 11-year low while seeking to keep its multi-billion dollar projects on track.

Oil may average US$30 (RM132) a barrel this year in a “low-price” scenario, chief executive officer Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said in an interview yesterday.

With a capital expenditure plan of as much as RM350 billion over the next five years, he said the company’s “good” cash build-up would help it through difficult times.

…

 

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Posted by Wata

Saturday Star 2016-02-20– Job Opportunities

February 22, 2016

Happy Flu from Umrah Week. Donate to your favourite charity (me), buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (all 4 books). 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.

  • I’m looking for jobs for 2Q2016. Send me your POs.
  • An associate of mine is looking for a technical safety part-time adviser. 2 Associates, actually. Needs to be needle sharp with respect to QRAs, and HSE safety cases. A calm demeanor to handle nonsensical questions from young engineers helps as well. Either that, or a drinking problem.
  • Nothing in the papers this week. See Happy note above.

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.

During these trying times, perhaps you should focus on self improvement. The following are a good set of books to start automating your uncertainty budget tables.

The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, Hands-On Start to Wolfram Mathematica, Doubt-Free Uncertainty In Measurement: An Introduction for Engineers and Students

Leave a Comment » | Malaysia, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

‘Rapid’ project only minimally affected by oil price drop

February 21, 2016

Note to self – Move business plan to focus on RAPID, wait, have already started.

Dateline 2016-01-11, FMT:

The current decline in global oil prices has had a minimal impact on the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Pengerang here.

The project is progressing according to schedule, with 17 per cent of the venture ready to date, said Johor Chief Minister, Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

As such he added, the people have nothing to worry about in respect of the project, which is also focused on downstream industries.

“Rapid is focused on crude oil refining activities and not processing (oil), so the impact is less,” he added.

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Posted by Wata

High-flying oil workers now scraping by amid layoffs

February 20, 2016

Yeah, you high flyers. And we hope Haqim Nawawi is not disillusioned.

Dateline 2016-01-11, Malay Mail:

Haqim Nawawi thought he had it all when an international oil services firm poached him from a biochemical company and hired him as a logging-while-drilling field specialist with a monthly salary of more than RM10,000.

But just 11 months into his dream job, the 26-year-old took a phone call last June that would crush all hopes for a comfortable life. Now, he is jobless and makes a scanty side income of RM540 a month teaching secondary school students maths or science.

“When they hired me I was so happy,” Haqim told Malay Mail Online. “I even bought a house”.

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Posted by Wata

Who Wins and Who Loses in a World of Cheap Oil

February 19, 2016

Dateline 2016-01-08, STRATFOR:

…

As one of the few net producers in the Asia-Pacific, Malaysia will feel the greatest pressure from cheap oil. Last year, roughly 20 percent of the Malaysian government budget came from the earnings of state-owned oil company Petronas. As the firm’s earnings declined, Kuala Lumpur was forced to impose an unpopular goods and services tax to make up for the shortfall.

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Posted by Wata

More layoffs on the horizon for Malaysian oil & gas sector

February 12, 2016

Notice that PCSB is painted as a good guy, back then.

Dateline 2016-01-08, AsiaOne:

More retrenchment is taking place in Malaysia’s beleaguered oil and gas sector with 10 industry players reportedly having outlined plans to slash at least 2,700 more jobs.

According to a report issued by i-Research making rounds on social media, Linkedin, 11 oil and oilfield services companies are undertaking staff cost restructuring.

Petronas Carigali, the upstream unit of Petronas, stands as the exception to have opted for salary cuts rather than layoffs, the report said.

Ten out of the 11, comprising Shell Malaysia, ExxonMobil Malaysia, Murphy Oil, SBM Malaysia, TH Heavy Engineering, Petrofac-RNZ, Malaysia Marine Heavy Engineering, Bumi Armada, Technip Malaysia and Ranhill WorleyParsons, have spelt plans to reduce headcounts in Malaysia.

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1 Comment | Malaysia, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Saturday Star 2016-02-06– Job Opportunities

February 8, 2016

Happy Umrah Week. Donate to your favourite charity (me), buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (all 4 books). 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.

  • I’m looking for jobs for 2Q2016. Send me your POs.
  • An associate of mine is looking for a technical safety part-time adviser. 2 Associates, actually. Needs to be needle sharp with respect to QRAs, and HSE safety cases. A calm demeanor to handle nonsensical questions from young engineers helps as well. Either that, or a drinking problem.
  • Nothing in the papers this week. See Happy note above.

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.

During these trying times, perhaps you should focus on self improvement. The following are a good set of books to start automating your uncertainty budget tables.

The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, Hands-On Start to Wolfram Mathematica, Doubt-Free Uncertainty In Measurement: An Introduction for Engineers and Students

Leave a Comment » | Malaysia, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Malaysia’s Petronas set to ride another year of oil turmoi

February 7, 2016

Dateline 2016-01-05, MENAFN:

Malaysian fuel company Petronas Dagangan Bhd, the country’s top-performing stock in 2015, will focus this year on managing inventories to help cut operating costs and sustain dividend payments as it anticipates continued oil market turmoil.

Its strategy to mitigate any further decline in oil prices is similar to last year, when it slashed the number of days it holds inventory for by 30%, Managing Director Mohd Ibrahimnuddin Mohd Yunus said in a December 31 interview.

The company operates the country’s biggest network of retail stations and supplies fuel to factories, vessels and airplanes – – leaving the value of its fuel inventories vulnerable to oil price drops.

“We constantly manage our inventory at an optimal level,” Mohd Ibrahimnuddin said at his office at the Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur. “At these levels, we were able to ride out crude oil prices that have dropped significantly.”

…

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Posted by Wata

Big oil to cut investment again in 2016

February 6, 2016

And this was when crude was / is / will be (referring to HHGTTG grammar guide) USD37/ barrel.

Dateline 2016-01-04, FMT:

With crude prices at 11-year lows, the world’s biggest oil and gas producers are facing their longest period of investment cuts in decades, but are expected to borrow more to preserve the dividends demanded by investors.

At around $37 a barrel, crude prices are well below the $60 firms such as Total, Statoil and BP need to balance their books, a level that has already been sharply reduced over the past 18 months.

International oil companies are once again being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery.

US producers Chevron and ConocoPhillips have published plans to slash their 2016 budgets by a quarter. Royal Dutch Shell has also announced a further $5 billion in spending cuts if its planned takeover of BG Group goes ahead.

…

Leave a Comment » | Malaysia, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

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