Pertamina’s Natuna Plan Delayed by Lack of Data

December 12, 2008

Taken from the Jakata Globe (you can tell where I had my holidays), dateline Dec 10, 2008:

State oil and gas producer PT Pertamina will likely miss its December deadline to choose partners to help it develop the Natuna D-Alpha gas block as US oil giant ExxonMobil has yet to turn over key data, an Indonesian government official said on Tuesday.

Edy Hermantoro, director for upstream oil and gas at the Energy Ministry, said ExxonMobil would continue to have control over the block until Jan. 9, when its contract with the Indonesian government officially expires. “Exxon has the right to hold onto the data until its contract is over,” Edy said on Tuesday. “This also means that Pertamina’s right [to take over Natuna] is not effective yet as Exxon’s contract is still valid.”

But Edy’s comments contradicted earlier statements by the Energy Ministry. It announced in 2006 that ExxonMobil’s contract had been terminated, arguing Exxon had produced nothing after 20 years spent exploring the block.

…

 One of the most tightly guarded treasures of a hydrocarbon production company is its reservoir data. Making this information public domain is kinda like giving your competitors an insight in your 10-15 year revenue and investment plan.

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Query – Simple Modelling of FPSO Vessel Rocking?

December 7, 2008

I’m curious whether anyone bothers to model the roll of a FPSO inside a process simulation package.

  1. I know that you can build vessels where you insert baffles to minimise the sloshing of liquids (does sloshing approximate to a simple harmonic motion system?), and Hysys allows for re-entrainment in the outlet (is there a simple formula which can approximate this?).
  2. Does a properly built vessel dampen the sloshing effect such that it’s not worth even thinking about vessel roll? What’s the largest vessel roll anyway?
  3. You can simulate the sloshing using computational fluid dynamics, but is that overkill?

Your answers and pointers would be interesting

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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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Saturday Star 2008-11-29 – Job Opportunities

December 1, 2008

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

  • Synergy Oil and Gas Engineeringis 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.
  • Qatargas is looking for engineers and operators, interviews scheduled for early 2009. The engineering positions are under the ESU Maintenance Dept – Mech Eng, Instr, Conditioning Monitoring. You can inquire and apply via email here.
  • Shell Refining Company, in the old laid back town of Port Dickson, is looking for a Senior Turnaround Engineer, and a Mech Eng (Static). For more info, visit http://www.shell.com/careers →Professionals & Apply → Job Search → Region → Asia → Malaysia. BTW, I hear that there a lot of eng companies in PD. Wanna join up with SOGE? 

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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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New HAZOP Tool

November 27, 2008

I facilitated a HAZOP for Uzma on Sunday, 23rd November, 2008, in Kerteh Terengganu (yes, I was doing it under the Poyry ticket).

Anyhow, I found that the following tool is extremely useful in:

  • pointing out items on the projection screen.
  • Demonstrating heights and lengths.
  • Just feels cool.

I suggest using one about 4 1/2″ long, an inch thick.

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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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And So The Empire of Wata Begins

November 18, 2008

Okay, some megalomania. These are photos of my farewell lunch from Poyry Energy (Kuala Lumpur) Sdn Bhd on Wed, 12th Nov 2008.

Note this date, people.

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