Now Petronas subsidiary is leaving Labuan

February 4, 2017

Dateline 2017-01-08, Daily Express:

A long-time big player in the oil and gas industry here – Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSD) – has moved its operations to its own supply base at Bintulu Port, Sarawak, effective January 1.

A notice issued by the company advised its service providers and vendors that the delivery point for its materials would now be the East Logistics Command Centre (ELCC) at the Bintulu Port.

Industry sources reacting immediately to the latest development said it was certainly bad news for Labuan but good news for Sarawak which, not long ago, had acted firmly on Petronas to increase Sarawak’s opportunities in its employment.

PCSD had a strong presence here and had helped to raise the profile of the island as a significant oil and gas hub.

The company had been serving as an anchor tenant at the Asian Supply Base (ASB) which has often been described as a fully integrated logistics hub for oil and gas. ASB is a fully Sabah-owned entity and was established in 1985 when Tan Sri Harris Salleh was the Chief Minister of Sabah.


Malaysia cuts average natural gas price for non-power sector users

February 3, 2017

Dateline 2016-12-29, Nikkei Asian Review:

Malaysia has decided to cut the average natural gas price by 2.74% for users in the non-power sector for the first six months of next year, a move that analysts said will help lower costs for export-reliant manufacturers such as glove-makers.

The average base tariff of 26.31 ringgit ($5.9) for every million British Thermal Unit will be effective January 1, the Energy Commission said in a statement, compared to the current rate of 27.05 ringgit for each unit. Natural gas prices in Malaysia are controlled by the government and reviewed every six months.

“The base tariffs for this regulatory period are expected to contribute positively towards the financial position of the company for the next three financial years,” Gas Malaysia, the sole supplier of reticulated natural gas in Malaysia, said in a separate statement to the stock exchange.

IEM Shout Out – 2017-02 One-Day Course on “Effective Email Writing”

February 2, 2017

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day  course on the 16th February, 2017. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. The course will be presented by Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran

CEmail is a problem that is hiding in plain sight – one which few people will tackle. We all use email every day. Yet, too often, email fails to be the effective communication tool it deserves to be. Simple mistakes are often a large part of the problem. Emails are more likely than other kinds of work to be littered with spelling and grammar errors. More fundamentally, poor structure can result in overlong emails that fail to get their key message across. And poorly worded emails can lead to disputes between colleagues or with clients, causing disrupted workflows and needless stress.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Used correctly, email gets ideas across quickly and with a minimum of effort. Rather than a barrier to action, it can be the opposite: an invaluable tool for making sure that everything your team need to happen, happens. That’s why we’ve developed this course. It’s specifically designed to help your team claw back the time lost to poorly written emails. The end result is clear, professional emails, that let your team hit ‘send’ with confidence.

This one-day course is designed to help you develop skills that will enable you to produce clear and effective email documents. We will focus on the basic principles of good writing which email writing shares with other forms of writing and on types of documents common in technical fields and organizations. Participants learn the protocol for email writing. Subjects include punctuation, grammar and “SCRAP” techniques.  Participants also may choose to bring a sample of their writing/ presentation/ commonly faced issues in the work place for one-on-one feedback

Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran, PEng, MIEM, CEng, MIMechE graduated from University Teknologi Malaysia in 2001 with Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons), subsequently, pursued his Master Degree in University of Malaya. He has published in international journals and conferences in the past. His career has a diverse outlook on project execution ranging from building construction, marine, mining and energy industry; as a mechanical engineer. He is also a Chartered Engineer of Engineering Council UK and Corporate Member of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK).
Register here, or download the form here.


Diving – El Nido 2oo5

February 1, 2017

PETRONAS TO PRODUCE LESS PETROLEUM NEXT YEAR? BUT WHY NOW!?

January 31, 2017

Dateline 2016-12-28, Cili Sos:

You don’t need to be an economist to see how badly our economy is doing. Oil prices have been going down worldwide and that (coupled with other factors of course), has really taken a toll on our Ringgit.

In a previous article about Petronas, we mentioned that this one company alone supplies 30% of our country’s GDP (and some say 40%). In fact, the oil price drop hit Petronas so heavily that the first half of 2016 has not been kind to Petronas. They announced in August this year that their profits had fallen a staggering 96% when compared to their profits at the same time last year.

 


Saturday Star 2017-01-28 – Job Opportunities

January 30, 2017

Happy Wata  IEM VP and Council Candidacy. Vote for me, and spread the workd, wilya? IGL has pivoted into training, so book your seats now.

We’re thinking of republishing Young Turks of PETRONAS, but it’s a minimum 500 book printing run. Do I have enough interested persons to purchase?

Donate to your favorite charity (me), buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (3 books until I can get YTP republished). 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 have a feeling that The Star isn’t the preferred O&G job recruitment portal now. I see more adverts via social media. What do you think, is it a step change that the papers need to embrace?
  • I’m looking for jobs for 2Q2017. Send me your POs.

Food choice of the week? I would suggest visiting Sudu & Garpu, SS15.

Seeing that Joe Dever has passed away, you may want to revisit his books:

Flight from the Dark (Lone Wolf, Book 1), Legends of Lone Wolf Omnibus 1, War of the Wizards (The World of Lone Wolf, Book 4)


‘O&G industry still offers attractive trading opportunities’

January 28, 2017

Dateline 2016-12-28, Borneo Post Online:

Despite the challenges and uncertainties faced by the oil and gas (O&G) industry this year, analysts are more bullish on the prospects of the sector in 2017, driven by various promising factors.

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd’s research arm (MIDF Research) in its 2017 outlook report, opined: “All is not doom and gloom in the O&G sector as opportunities still exist, especially for asset light and niche service providers.”

All things considered, it said, the O&G industry still offers attractive trading opportunities in line with the volatile movements in the global crude oil mart.

“We are negative on asset-heavy companies with heavy reliance on upstream exploration and production activities but we remain positive with downstream related companies.

“Having said that however, we recommend investors to cherry pick stocks within niche segments of the O&G value chain,” it added.

It suggested that Dayang Enterprise Bhd (Dayang) and Deleum Bhd (Deleum) are front are frontrunners with niche expertise in the upstream maintenance, construction and modification (MCM) works for Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and its production sharing contractors.


Malaysia’s national oil company to reduce crude oil output by 20,000 barrels per day

January 27, 2017

Dateline 2016-12-21, The Star:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will reduce its crude oil output up to 20,000 barrels per day starting from January 2017 in line with the oil producers’ move to shore up oil prices.

The national oil company said the voluntary adjustment was based on the prevailing market conditions and prospects and based on Malaysia’s average production for this year.

Petronas said the adjustment followed the pact made in Vienna, Austria on December 10 between the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers.

 


Petronas to announce output cut quantum soon

January 26, 2017

Old news, but good(?) news.

Dateline 2016-12-20, The Sun:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will announce soon the quantum of reduction for Malaysia’s 2017 crude oil production as agreed to at a meeting of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and non-Opec members in Vienna, Austria, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

The meeting agreed that non-members of Opec would have to cut down by 558,000 barrels per day (bpd) for six months beginning Jan 1, 2017.

Speaking to reporters after launching the 15th Edition of the Malaysia Economic Monitor report published by the World Bank, Abdul Rahman said the cutback by Malaysia and other non-Opec as well as Opec members was aimed at shoring up crude oil prices by stabilising global oil supply, normalising the market and regaining investor confidence.


Diving – El Nido 1oo5

January 25, 2017