Saturday Star 08-05-03 – Job Opportunities

May 5, 2008

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

  • Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is looking for Technical Advisors (Operation). There is  a walk in interview on the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th May (tempting, tempting) at the JW Marriot, between 0900 to 1700. You can apply via email here.
  • Bumi Armada is looking for Lead Process, Marine, Instrumentation Engineers. Apply via email here.
  • Titan Chemicals is looking for Senior Engineers (Mech/ E/ I / Process/ Production/ Steam). Walk in interview at MS Garden Hotel (ah, brings back memories of … 2 weeks ago when I was there), Room MS1 & MS2, Mezzanine Floor, Lorong Gambut Off Jalan Berserah, Kuantan, Pahang. Oh, on 10th May between 9 to 6.
  • I think there was an ad for Oryx, but I don’t have the paper any more.
  • And of course, IGL Process Solutions is looking for high paying work, preferably of a 6 month duration.

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.

3 Comments | engineering, oil and gas | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
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Engineers on Retainer Fees?

May 4, 2008

Attorneys and lawyers may get retainer fees, that is ‘a contract between two people or companies where one pays to reserve the other’s time’ (Wikipedia entry).

Now, are there opportunities for engineers get paid for ‘reserved time’? Well, examples are:

  • The client wants certain engineers to work on the next phase of a project, but they currently don’t have work to stop the engineers seeking other jobs.
  • The client has work coming up which is not guaranteed, and the consulting company wants compensation to keep grunts on the back burner, ready to leap into action once the PO / LOI / gentleman’s agreement kicks in.

What can a company do with their engineers on retainer? Unless they can get full compensation (40 billable hours a week), you need to have the engineers earn their supper.

  • Have the engineers based in the office, don’t second them out on 3/6/9 month sessions. Maybe have them contribute but not lead in-house projects.
  • Make sure there is sufficient time between the request for engineering support and when the bodies have to be handed over. One week should be sufficient.
  • Make sure your accounting systems can handle retainer fees. If not, you will probably have more than 100% reimbursability, infinite return on investment, income coming in without a cost centre to park them, you get the idea.

 

 

9 Comments | business opportunity, engineering, oil and gas | Permalink
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Annual Company Meet – Swag Bag

May 2, 2008

Thought I’d start some discussions on what you can get during your annual company meet / CEO address / town hall meeting:

  • ExxonMobil Malaysia Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc (EMEPMI) staff got a iPod. Granted, it was the coincidence of the Employee forum, 45 years of Esso in Malaysia, and the award of a new 25 year PSC.
  • Talisman Malaysia Ltd staff received an MP4 player.
  • Carigali Hess received … nothing.
  • Newfield staff were treated to lunch at the Malaysia Petroleum Club. Excellent view of the KL panorama, I might add.
  • Berwanger received Jusco voucers.
  • Rumour has it the Enserve staff got Tag Heuer watches (pest control company, I believe.) . As a side note, EMEPMI staff who contributed most to promoting safety received Tissot watches.
  • Shell Global Solutions staff received a mug with the company charter on it (sigh…)
  • Poyry Energy were given t-shirts during the annual retreat.
  • Deleum received nothing. (Deleum is the listed holding company of Delcom).

 

 

4 Comments | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: , | Permalink
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Engineering an Entrance

April 30, 2008

My employers have rented the office next to ours. As the annex is meant to contain senior management and regional services, while engineering grunts are in the main office, you could have said that, well maybe having two different offices coincidentally on the same floor would be acceptable.

Us being engineers, wanted to created a direct route between the two offices without mixing with the riffraff in the corridors, so our solution has been recorded for posterity on video

3 Comments | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: , | Permalink
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Saturday Star 08-04-26 – Job Opportunities

April 29, 2008

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

  • Scientige is looking for a mess of engineers: structural, foundation, IT, naval, Ops and Maint, Noise and Vibr, Pipeline, E&I, Mech, Process (my favourite!), flow assurance, Mat and Corr, Metal and Weld, Risk. One of the company owner’s a good friend of mine, so you should be in safe hands… or complain on this blog. Letters to MD, Scientige Sdn. Bhd., Suite 8-11, Wisma UOA II, No. 21, Jalan Pinang, 50450 KL (attn: Manager, HR&Admin) or email here.
  • Nippon Oil is looking for a whole mess of people. I guess they want to staff up a project management team (PMC) for new developments. Engineering positions available: contract, facility, senior production, senior reservoir, civil, senior opns, senior process, senior maintenance, HSE. Snail mail before 15th May, 2008 to Human Resources Section, Nippon Oil Exploration (Malaysia), Ltd, Lot 1168, 3rd Floor, Wisma Interhill, Miri Waterfront Commercial Centre, 98000 Miri, Sarawak.
  • And I thrown in for free, my employers.

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.

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IEM presentation write-up

April 26, 2008

On Thursday, 24th April 2008, there was a small delegation from my company who went and attended the afternoon tea talk arranged by the Oil, Gas and Mining Technical Division of the IEM, of which I am the SecTreas. The talk was entitled ‘Talk on Upsteam Activities in Oil and Gas Industry.’ The speaker was En. Meor Shahrin Mahmood, currently Manager of Domestic, South-East Asia and Australasia regions, Basin Analysis & New Ventures Department, Exploration Division, PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd (PCSB), what a mouthful.

My colleague, Hui Hin, wrote up a summary of the talk. Visit her site to read the presentation notes.

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Expectations and Standards – Read, don’t Assume

April 25, 2008

Here’s an interesting question. If you wish to indicate whether a valve is open or close, which one of the following would you use:

Valve Indicator - Red and Green
Here’s an example where the same company uses a red valve to indicate both open and closed status. Let’s get the obvious out the way: a given facility has a standard method of indication. For the company in question, onshore facilities have red indicating open valves, offshore facilities use green.

Now, why two different standards be used? You have to see ‘certain points of view’ (since we’re using Star Wars cliches here):

  • If you were an electrical engineer, red means energized and equipment is in its working state. For a valve, this would mean the valve is open.
  • If you were a process engineer, you’d choose green for go.

So, the colours chosen for your mimic panel or basic process control system (BPCS) display would be whether the process or electrical engineers spec’ed out the system.

Engineers, RTFM.

 

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Design Dilemma – 2 x 67% spares?

April 23, 2008

Here’s an interesting design dilemma. I have a contact who is upgrading a produced water system for a central processing platform. The produced water system will have two parallel hydrocyclones in series with a degasser. The hydrocyclones use centrifugal forces to separate produced water such that entrained oil will be removed from the bulk water. The degasser will allow any dissolved gases in the produced water to evolve at near-atmospheric pressure prior to being discharged overboard.

Now, the degasser is sized for processing 3000 kl/d of produced water, while the hydrocyclones are sized for 2000 kl/d each.

What’s strange about this? Well, the process can only handle as much liquid as the equipment with the smallest design throughput. So, in this case the process is limited by the degasser, that is 3000 kl/d. The extra 1000 kl/d processing capacity available at the hydrocyclones is wasted.

It’s also usual to have equipment in parallel so that one unit may be taken out of service without affecting the design throughput of the system. Hence, you may design a train with 3 parallel units, each capable of handling 50% of design flow. This is normally indicated by the statement “3×50%”. Other derivations are “4×33%”, “5×25%”, all allowing for one unit to be taken offline. This type of sparing philosophy is considered when designing pressure relief valves, to ensure there is adequate relief capacity in the event one valve is unavailable due to maintenance or repairs.

What’s strange in the example above? It seems as if it has been designed with “2×67%” hydroclyclones. What gives? If you take one unit down, then the on-line hydrocyclone limits the throughput. If both units are online, there is excess, unused capacity.

 

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Saturday Star 08-04-19 – Job Opportunities

April 22, 2008

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

  • The Kuwait Oil Company is looking people. You can visit the job website and send your application here and here.
  • Shell has a walk in interview for Process Operations technicians. Walk in interview at GK Ballroom 2, Kelana Resort on 27th April, 9am to 4pm
  • Halliburton has a walk-in interview on April 26th and 27th @ Hotel Selesa, Pasir Gudang between 10am and pm. For more information, come here. Engineers can write in and send their details here.

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.

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Engineering Primer – Errors between % volume and mass -Take 2

April 21, 2008

Continuing on from my previous article, lets put a few numbers in:

  • Density of crude: 700 kg/m3
  • Density of water: 1000 kg/m3

Case 1

  • 99 kg crude, 1 kg H2O.
  • Mass fraction: 99% crude, 1% H2O (no surprises here)
  • Volume fraction: 99.3% crude, 0.7% H2O

Case 2

  • 70 kg crude, 30 kg H2O.
  • Mass fraction: 70% crude, 30% H2O (again, no surprises)
  • Volume fraction: 77% crude, 23% H2O

Now, what does this mean? Well, if you measure the volumetric fraction of water, and assume that it is the same as the mass fraction, you will understate the mass of water in your sample. If your transactions are on a mass basis, than the amount of crude sold is overstated.

Engineering moral: not only are units important, the basis of measurement is important as well.

I’ll attach a short PowerPoint presentation that restates the numbers used above.

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