IEM Shout Out – Welding Metallurgy in Engineering Applications

July 8, 2010

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting a course on the 22nd and 23rd July, 2010. You’ll get to visit TNB’s Integrated Learning Solution – ILSAS at Bangi in addition to getting 13 CPD or PDP points.

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL, WELDING PROCEDURE AND WELDER QUALIFICATION

  • Basic understanding of quality assurance and quality control,understanding design of WPS, SPAR (PQR) and welder qualifications.

RESIDUAL STRESSES, NON DESTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE TESTING

  • Nature of residual stress and distortion; methods of controlling distortion, NDT methods PT, MT, RT and UT, methods of destructive testing, etc

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

  • Welding Processes
  • Material and Behaviour
  • Design and Construction
  • Welding Inspection
  • Welding Technology
  • Fabrication and Application
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Non Destructive Testing

The course will be presented by En. Mohd Faisal Yusoff. Flyers for the above and other events may be obtained here.

I appeal to readers, come on and send yourselves and staff to these courses. I need the support.


From Bernama – PETRONAS Expects A Better Year Ahead

July 6, 2010

Could this be that they have a new President soon? Is Jabba going to take over?

Taken from the pages of Bernama, dateline 2010-07-01:

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) — Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) expects better results for its financial year ending March 31, 2011, despite rising concern over the global economic recovery, president and chief executive officer Shamsul Azhar Abbas said on Thursday.

“The most challenging part (moving forward) is how to manage the cost, given the uncertainties in the Eurozone economies as well as the United States and overheating growth in China,” he told a media briefing on Petronas’ financial performance.

“We are very comfortable now with the first-quarter numbers and hope to see a better year ahead,” he said this when asked on the group’s financial outlook.

Moving forward, Shamsul Azhar said Petronas was looking to review its global expansion overseas.


Saturday Star 2010-07-03 – Job Opportunities

July 5, 2010

Support me by purchasing my recommendations, or buying through my Amazon store.

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, no need to ask.

Umm, I didn’t purchase last Saturday’s papers, and there wasn’t any Recruitment section in the online version. Were people too depressed with England and Brazil exiting the World Cup?


PETRONS Dagangan the worst KLCI performer

July 1, 2010

The title says it all, though I do think it is understood you need to tag on “for the trading day” at the end.

From the Business Times, dateline 2010-06-24:

Petronas Dagangan Bhd, the retail arm of Malaysia’s state oil company, fell the most in more than two years after exceeding a technical indicator that some investors use as a signal to sell the stock.

The shares slid 4.9 per cent to RM9.30 at 9.19 am local time in Kuala Lumpur. On June 23, they jumped 5.2 per cent, increasing their 14-day relative strength index to 77, the highest since October 20.

Some traders and investors use a reading above 70 as a signal that prices have risen too rapidly and may drop.


Clamp Off

June 30, 2010

This is what happens when you either misjudge your corrosion problems, are given bad advice by your supplier of chemicals to mitigate corrosion, or unable to shutdown your critical process lines.

Clamping of Process Line

I worry whether the line has lost so much integrity that there is an possibility of spontaneous rupture. Good thing it’s not a the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.


IEM Shout Out – Introduction to Industrial NDT

June 29, 2010

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting a course on the 13th and 14th July, 2010. You’ll get to visit TNB’s Integrated Learning Solution – ILSAS at Bangi in addition to getting 13 CPD or PDP points.

OBJECTIVES

  • To identify / enumerate four (4) main types of NDT inspection methods.
  • To select the most appropriate method/technique for NDT inspections to detect surface/volumetric discontinuity and defects in accordance to relevant code and standards in industries.

The course will be presented by Mohd Murthadza B. Abd Rahman and Mohd Noor B. Abd Rani

Flyers for the above and other events may be obtained here.

I appeal to readers, come on and send yourselves and staff to these courses. I need the support.


Saturday Star 2010-06-26 – Job Opportunities

June 28, 2010

Support me by purchasing my recommendations, or buying through my Amazon store.

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, no need to ask. I take it the industry’s booming again, looking at the number of ads in today’s paper.

Murphy is looking for a subsea engineering manager. Send your applications here.

Hmm, short list this week.

As for reading recommendations, I think the Millennium Trilogy would be your best bet. I didn’t realise that the author passed away in 2004, with the first English translation of his book being published posthumously. For those who don’t know which books I’m referring to:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage)

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest


Sudanese blood spills into Asia

June 27, 2010

Following up on my expose on PETRONAS’s involvement (okay, my cut and paste on PETRONAS’s involvement), here’s some more information. Asia Times online, dateline 2010-06-25:

Far beyond America’s Gulf Coast another oil disaster has struck, but the current damage stems from allegations of possible complicity in “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. The activities in question occurred in Sudan between 1997 and 2003, with an oil consortium led by Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum at the center of a growing storm with implications potentially impacting Asia’s oil interests.

Sweden’s coverage of the story has been dominated by questions surrounding what it means for Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a member of Lundin’s board from 2000-2006. The possibility of Bildt, Sweden’s prime minister from 1991 to 1994, being criminally prosecuted has been widely reported.

The ECOS report, “Unpaid Debt: The Legacy of Lundin, Petronas and OMV in Sudan, 1997-2003”, argues that “the home governments of Lundin (Sweden), Petronas (Malaysia) and OMV (Austria) have failed in their international obligations to prevent human-rights violations and international crimes”


Higher Acceptances Received For M3nergy Takeover Offer

June 26, 2010

I’ll just pull out what I think are the pertinent paragraphs from this Bernama article, dateline 2010-06-19:

Adamus Avenue Sdn Bhd (AASB), which launched a conditional takeover of M3nergy Bhd, offering RM1.85 per share, has received over 71 per cent acceptances for the voting shares of the oil and gas services provider, as of June 19.

Companies controlled by major shareholder, Tunku Datuk Yaacob bin Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, who owns 71.14 per cent of M3nergy, have confirmed acceptance of the conditional offer.

Meanwhile, it was reported that AASB is a private company owned by Datuk Shahrazi Sha’ari, who is the current Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of M3nergy.

Can you say, management buyout? We look forward to the new owner sending all their specialist process work to us.


Pick the Right Datum

June 25, 2010

First conversation:

“will the railings be for stairs inclined at 30° or 45°?”

“Who cares? No one will notice.”

We noticed.

Railings at an angle, no camera tricks.

The second conversation

Young Client Engineer “Go fabricate the railings correctly!”

Wise Contractor “Well, we need a variance order, which will take 2 weeks, which will delay your schedule, which will need the plant GM’s approval, which will flag up your mess up to top management, ruining your perfect KPIs… Aren’t your performance appraisals happening next week? No one will notice. The stairs are still safe, aren’t they”

Client Engineer “Umm, Ok then, carry on.”