The dilemma of fuel dealers

August 13, 2017

Dateline 2017-06-30, Sinchew:

Following the introduction of weekly ceiling fuel pricing mechanism, coupled with the continuously falling retail prices — the fifth straight fall this week — many petrol dealers in the country are suffering losses, and they hope the government will do something to help them out of the current doldrums.

There are a total of 3,500 gas stations in the country, but since the government abolished fuel subsidies and implemented the weekly floating pricing policy, many of them begin to encounter difficulty in sustaining their businesses.

From what we know, since the monthly ceiling fuel pricing mechanism was introduced in 2014, some 30 to 40 petrol stations have wound up their businesses. With the implementation of weekly pricing, more are expected to go under. Some 80 petrol stations have already closed down during the last two years and the dealers are worried more will do so if fuel prices keep dropping.

Among the reasons for the closures are minimum wage scheme, rising energy cost, 1% credit card fee, low commissions and falling oil prices.

…

 

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‘Revive Labuan Shipyard’ call

August 12, 2017

I remember when Labuan was where all the torch to metal action was, in addition to humourous stories about the actions of personnel stationed there.

Dateline 2017-06-29, Daily Express:

A political actvist suggested that the Government help revive Labuan shipyard and bring back its glory years when it was a leading contributor to the local economy rather than the oil and gas sector.

Lau Seng Kiat, who was an Independent candidate in the 2004 general election, said during its heydays the shipyard stood out as a regional leader with some 3,000 employees including subcontractors, vendors and others benefiting from the contractors of the company. “The oil and gas sector was not in full bloom yet.”

Sabah Shipyard as it was then called and now Labuan Shipyard & Engineering Sdn Bhd (LSE), was established in 1972 and much earlier than the Asian Supply Base (ASB). The yard has impressive state-of-the-art facilities and built 16,500 dwt palm oil/chemical tankers for MISC which were said to be the largest built in the country.

It also supplied power barges to the Philippines, Pakistan and SESB to fast track industrial development.

The yard also built cement and log carriers and tugboats.

“But due to lack of continued support the shipyard slipped from its position and was overtaken by the oil and gas boom,” said Lau.

..

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Online hiring dips further despite oil-and-gas uptick

August 11, 2017

Are you one of the sixteen percenters?

Dateline 2017-06-29, Malay Mail:

Malaysian firms’ online recruitment has contracted for yet another month despite the oil-and-gas sector enjoying registering a 16-per cent growth in hiring, according to Monster.com.

In its monthly Monster Employment Index (MEI), overall online hiring in May fell 14 per cent from the same time last year.

Past index records show that April and March online recruitment figures both suffered a 11 per cent year-on-year decline, with no expansion in February and a mere 2-per cent growth in January.

With its hiring in May, the oil-and-gas industry emerged as the best-performing sector “for the first time ever”, the company said.

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Interview: Malaysia’s Petronas creating new LNG demand to ease supply glut

August 10, 2017

Dateline 2017-06-28, Platts:

The LNG markets have gone through sweeping changes over the past three years, with growing production and changing buying patterns forcing suppliers to be more creative, flexible and willing to take risks, and Malaysia’s Petronas seems determined to lead this trend, as the company explores new ways of expanding its customer base.

In an interview on the sidelines of the 19th Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur in May, vice president for LNG trading and marketing Ahmad Adly Alias and chief executive officer with Petronas LNG Ezhar Yazid Jaafar said Petronas is adjusting its business model to create new demand centers, by expanding to emerging markets and across the LNG value chain through joint venture partnerships.

“We want to become a solutions provider,” Alias said. “The market has now changed because the US model has taken a different approach, adding more liquidity and flexibility, so Petronas is also becoming more progressive, willing to change the way we operate.”

…

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Diving – Tenggol 2017

August 9, 2017

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IEM Shout Out – 2017-10 Two-Day Course on Presentation Skills for Engineers & Technical Personnels

August 8, 2017

My technical division will be hosting a 2 day course on the 4th and 5th October 2017. It is worth 12 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. The course will be presented by Ir.Danaraj Chandrasegaran.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course participants will:
• Acquire better core presentation fundamentals.
• Will understand all the possible use cases for adopting Prezi in their own work processes.
• Will be able to create a basic Prezi presentation.
• Understand the purpose and value of powerful presentations
• Analyses audience needs and create presentations accordingly
• Set objectives and plan an appropriate structure
• Use your improved platform skills to answer audience questions with confidence
• Create an action plan to fine tune your presentation skills following feedback from the facilitator

Danaraj Chandrasegaran P.Eng MIEM CEng MIMechE. He is a Chartered Engineer and has honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Technology Malaysia. He also holds a MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Malaya. He also presently a committee member with The Institution of Engineers Malaysia and Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK) Malaysia Chapter. Since starting his career as a Mechanical Engineer, Danaraj has had a varied service; both in front line project execution as well as in technical, training, and management functions. His career has a diverse outlook on project execution ranging from building construction, marine, mining and energy industry; as a mechanical engineer. He has worked on several large-scale projects worldwide such as Shell Malikai TLP and Barzan Offshore Project. In addition, had edited and completed many large writing projects such technical reports, operating manuals and technical papers in the oil and gas industry.

Register here, or download the form here.

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Saturday Star 2017-08-05 – Job Opportunities

August 7, 2017

Happy happy week. 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, and they have moved adverts to another online presence (I bought a dead tree edition this week). 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 4Q2017. Send me your POs.

Food choice of the week? Support your local institution that provides wifi, study opportunities and a safe and clean environment. Yes, eat at McDonalds today.

Book choice of this week, Chemical Engineering Process Simulation, authors are Nishanth Chemmangattuvalappil Denny Ng Kok Sum Rafil Elyas Cheng-Liang ChenI,Lung Chien Hao-Yeh Lee. I intend to get a signed first edition, and place it in my Charles Dickens first edition cabinet.

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