From Offshore – Petrofac looking to boost Malaysia production

March 25, 2010

I think this isn’t news anymore, but here it is out in the open. Don’t know why the link is called ‘Petrobras’ though. Taken from the Offshore Magazine, dateline 2010-03-15:

KUALA LUMPUR — Petrofac’s Energy Developments division is considering a second-phase development of Block PM304 offshore Peninsular Malaysia.

The company operates the Cendor oil field on the license, which last year averaged production of 14,400 b/d, down slightly on levels in 2008. Petrofac’s Engineering & Operations division installed a Caltec Wellcom multiphase boosting system on one of the wells, which led to a substantial increase in output. As a result, further units may be installed.

Petrofac and its partners Petronas, PetroVietnam, and Kufpec have also drilled numerous successful near-field appraisal wells. They have commissioned a front-end engineering design study for a second-phase program, and expect to submit a field development proposal during the second half of 2010.


From VNS- PETRONAS acquires Thang Long LPG

March 24, 2010

Even though this isn’t Malaysian per se, I have included it as Thang Long is in my business sights at the mo’. Dateline 2010-03-20, taken from the Viet Nam News:

HA NOI — Malaysia’s national petroleum corporation, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS), took full control over Thang Long Liquefied Petroleum Gas Co Ltd after buying PetroVietnam Gas Corp’s share of 28.83 per cent.

The value of the deal was not revealed by either party.

Thang Long LPG, established in 1995, began as a joint venture between PETRONAS and PetroVietnam Gas Corp. The company has a register charter capital of nearly US$6.2 million, to which PETRONAS contributed $4.4 million (equivalent to 71.17 per cent of the total value).

The completion of the acquisition paves the way for PETRONAS to consolidate its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business in Viet Nam which is being led by subsidiary Thang Long LPG and PETRONAS Viet Nam Company Ltd (PVL).

As part of the acquisition exercise, the PVL will assume the role of sole agent for sales and distribution of the “Gas PETRONAS” brand in Viet Nam.

“Gas PETRONAS” is currently sold and distributed by the PVL in the country’s southern region and will soon be introduced in the north as a replacement of the “Thang Long Gas” brand.

Thaêng Long LPG is the second largest LPG distributor in the north of the country after Petrolimex Gas.


From The Star: Wah Seong bids for Socotherm

March 23, 2010

Dateline 2010-03-18, from The Star:

KUALA LUMPUR: Oil and gas company Wah Seong Corp Bhd submitted its bid to buy over Italian company Socotherm SpA three weeks ago, said deputy managing director Giancarlo Maccagno.

The results of the tender, which has attracted four other parties, would be known by end-April.

Maccagno declined to reveal the cost of the acquisition, which would be funded internally, as the company had a high cash reserve and low gearing of 0.3 times.

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.


Saturday Star 2010-03-20 – Job Opportunities

March 22, 2010

First off, if you need my help to submit your CVs, donate to the blog, and I’ll review your CV to see if it is worthy of my (and my associates’) expectations. If you can’t figure out how to donate, you are definitely Cylon fodder.

  • Synergy is looking for lead safety engineers, safety specialists, junior and lead process engineers and technical writers. We’re on an expansion drive, people! Visit the Synergy website for contact details. For leads, you need 5 years plus experience in the oil & gas industry. For safety specialist applicants, you need to be well versed in HAZOP, HAZID, QRA, FERA and Formal Safety Assessment. Ah, heck. If you have more than 5 years experience in O&G, apply. If you have less than 5, send a donation to the offshore account, and still get abuse. For juniors, go pick up a copy of Cambridge’s ChemEng syallabus, and go study like the Tripods (all of them) are tomorrow. 
  • Subsea 7 is looking for a Business Development Manager (SEA). View the job desciption here, and apply online.
  • Ah, a familiar name is back again. Shapadu is looking for project man, HSE man, E&I eng, Planning eng, Mech & piping eng, QA/QC eng. Please apply here or  here or snail mail to: Shapadu Energy and Engineering Sdn Bhd, Wisma Berkat, Lot 10, Jalan Pelabur 23/1 Section 23, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor DE.
  • Nippon Oil Exploration (Malaysia) Ltd (NOEX) asks, “Do you want to be part of a sustainable energy initiative for the future?” If so, there is a position for a Senoir Drilling Engineer. Snail mail to Human Resource Section NIPPON OIL EXPLORATION (MALAYSIA) LTD, Lot 1168, 3rd Floor, Wisma Interhill, Miri Waterfront Commercial Centre, 98000 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia before 12th April, 2010.

As you can probably tell, I was on leave last week. Food was catered for at Ayu Mayang Resort, Redang, Terengganu. How was the weather out there? Put it this way, no swimming was allowed, no boats could beach outside the big ferry jetty, and people were surfing outside the resort. Yes, it was kinda rough, people, though I still managed to get 2 dives in, bordering on suicidal.


From Bernama – Oil Royalty, Kelantan Not Eligible Because Of Emergency Ordinance

March 17, 2010

Taken from Bernama, dateline 2010-03-11:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 (Bernama) — Kelantan is not entitled to claim oil royalty outside its territorial waters because the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 is still enforced, said a law practitioner.

Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun said provision No.7 of the Ordinance stipulated that the state’s boundary which is the state’s land mass and its territorial waters stretched three nautical miles measured from the low-tide water mark.

However, two oil wells disputed by the Kelantan state government are located outside the ‘area’.

“To my knowledge, the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 is still in force and has not been abolished by the government. In fact, there are Ordinances formulated at that time, such as ESCAR (Essential (Security Cases) Regulations 1975), which are still in force,” he said when contacted by BERNAMA, here Thursday.

He was commenting on the statement by former Sarawak chief minister Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub, who supported the stand of the Federal Government that the State Government was not entitled to claim the oil royalty unless it could prove that the state’s territorial waters exceeded three nautical miles.

And here’s more fuel to the fire.


Saturday Star 2010-03-13 – Job Opportunities

March 15, 2010

First off, if you need my help to submit your CVs, donate to the blog, and I’ll review your CV to see if it is worthy of my (and my associates’) expectations. If you can’t figure out how to donate, you are definitely Cylon fodder.

  • And Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company (KPOC to friends) has a two-page spread. I presume they are now moving into detailed design / fabrication? Anyhow, the posts that they hope to fill are: Snr Construction Eng, Snr Commissioning Eng, Snr Telecom Eng, Snr Pipeline Management Eng, Snr Metering Eng, Snr Safety Eng, Snr Cost Eng, Project HSE Eng, Elec Eng, Mech Eng, Metering System Reliability Eng (not many of us around). Please apply here, or snail mail to: Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Comp Sdn Bhd, Level 52, Tower 2, PETRONAS Twin Towers, KLCC, 50088 KL, Malaysia.
  • Lundin’s looking for people, though not engineers. Visit their site and apply here.
  • Weatherford is looking for a Business Unit Manager, Controlled Pressure Drilling & Testing. Visit their site (www.weatherford.jobs, that’s a new top level domain) and apply here.

Wah Seong, Wasco and GSI

March 13, 2010

Some industry news I heard about, while doing a risk assessment for one of our clients.

Remember Wah Seong, a company I previously mentioned as not having met? To quote from their website:

Staying focused is imperative in this dynamic, ever-challenging industry. Hence, the Group has now organised itself into 6 business divisions under its wholly owned subsidiary, Wasco Energy Limited.

Actually, it’s kind of funny. Both the old and new company websites are up and running, if you know the secret code. (For discovering this error, please send the check to IGL. Bullion and diamonds accepted).

Anyhow, I came across Gas Services International Ltd (GSI), which Wah Seong bought in 2005. It turns out that they have recently (this week) gone through an exercise where they will carry the Wasco brand.

Kinda like when Pöyry was building up its brand by renaming all its subsidiaries.


IEM Shout Out – Structural Integrity Assessment in Oil & Gas Plants – A Case Study

March 9, 2010

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting the above talk on the 13th March, 2010. It’ll be at 9:30 am (makan-makan at 9:00) at Wisma IEM. That’s right people, as part of the new health drive you are required to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get your 2 CPD points.

It has been a standard industrial practice to carry out hazard analysis for hazardous operations. However, accidents still happen and occasionally, the consequences are alarming. In many cases, the accidents could be prevented if the hazard analysis exercise has been more effectively completed or if the analysis findings (information pertaining the hazards and controls) are communicated to and hence, appreciated by everyone. In response to this, the Bowie technique was invented and is being increasingly adopted in the oil & gas industry. It is simple and can be applied for all types of hazards, such as fire/explosion, environmental pollution, work-related accidents, transportation accidents, security threats, health hazards and many others. It is suitable forother industries as well e.g. construction, fabrication , manufacturing, aviation, shipping etc. The bow-tie technique emphasises on a pragmatic approach to identify not only hazard controls but also measures required to ensure the effectiveness of the identified controls. The overall findings are graphically presented  on a bowtie-like skeleton that allows easy understanding and communication.

Ir. Mohd Nazri Mustafa holds a B.E in Civil Engineering from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He has 18 years of experience in dealing with civil and structural engineering issues in oil, gas and, petrochemical plant environment. He has been involved in projects such as Gas Processing Plants GPP 5&6, Propane Dehydrogenation Plant Project, Malaysia LNG, GPP1 Revamp & Rejuvenation and Petronas projects in Sudan.

Fliers for the above and other events may be obtained here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here. It’s the building identified as ‘Puteri Nursing College.’


Saturday Star 2010-03-06 – Job Opportunities

March 8, 2010
  • ExxonMobil is looking for Drilling Engineers and Quality Engineers. Visit the site, or snail mail to Recruitment, Human Resources, Level 17, Menara ExxonMobil, 50088 KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.
  • ConocoPhillips is looking for a Process Engineer (way hey!). Send an email here.
  • SGS is looking an HSE officer, reliability engineer, risk based inspection engineer, corrosion engineer, material engineer, process risk eng (hey, apply to Synergy instead!), mech engineers, and the kingpin process management engineers. Send an email here.
  • M3nergy is looking for a Manager – HSE.
  • Wehaya is looking for sales eng, sales app eng (you’d better be good if you come knocking on my door), and product eng (again, you’d better know what you’re selling). Send an email here.

How’s the food at Chee Meng’s lately?


The SOGE Story – MECIP Synergy Futsal Survivors’ Dinner

March 7, 2010

We had a dinner of sorts at BB Thai Seafood Restaurant, across the road from the Skypark (it will always be Terminal 3 to me). Members of the Synergy and MECIP team turned up.

We wonder what other team sports MOGSC MOGEC will come up with. Paintball? Paint-balling? Congkak? Televised Chess? Me, I’m up for Wii Sports.