Malaysia’s Petronas sees gloomy industry outlook as second quarter profit slumps

October 9, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-22, Reuters:

Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on Monday said low oil prices dragged quarterly profit down 85 percent, and labelled the industry outlook “gloomy” well into 2017.

Petronas has seen a global slump in oil prices squeeze finances, which make up a third of Malaysia’s oil and gas revenue. The benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 price, which hit a 12-year low earlier this year, rose 25 percent in the second quarter but remains lower than a year earlier.

“We should expect to see volatility continue and Petronas will not bank on optimistic oil prices to ease up on pressure,” President and Chief Executive Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said at a news conference.

“The combined factors of oversupply, growing inventories and slower demand growth point to an ongoing gloomy outlook well into 2017.”


Oil Debt Woes Reach Malaysia as Offshore Rig Bonds in Distress

October 8, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-19, Bloomberg:

Bonds of a Malaysian offshore oil rig contractor have dropped to distressed levels, the latest sign that crude’s rebound this year hasn’t been enough to stave off pain in an industry beset by prices still about half their decade average.

Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd, which contracts out drilling rigs and charters vessels for towing equipment, said on Thursday it will start discussions with holders of its Singapore dollar notes, without providing further details. Its S$125 million securities due Oct. 3 have dropped 17 cents this month to a record low 60 cents, according to prices from DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

 

 


PETRONAS to Continue Cost Control Measures Even When Oil Price Recovers

October 7, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-18, Rigzone:

Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) planned to continue with efforts to control costs even when oil prices recover after it saved approximately $851 million (MYR 3.4 billion) following implemention of cost cutting measures from the beginning of 2015 to the middle of this year, President and Group CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said Wednesday, as reported by national news agency Bernama.

“Through the Cost Reduction Alliance program, we have managed to cut MYR 3.4 billion in terms of our costs since we started till the middle of this year,” Wan Zulkiflee told the International Conference of Blue Ocean Strategy’s plenary session in Putrajaya.

PETRONAS’ Cost Reduction Alliance (CORAL 2.0) is a five year program stretching from 2015 to 2019 seeks to inculcate cost-conscious mindset across upstream sector in Malaysia. The industry-wide program aims to support sustainability in the local petroleum sector through cost optimization, increased efficiency and driving industry innovation across all operators.

Many international, national and independent oil and gas companies, including PETRONAS, had undertaken measures to cut cost due to the slump in global oil prices that commenced in the second half of 2014.

“In 2014, oil prices were more than $100 per barrel, at lunch time today it was $48. Oil companies had to do strategic responses, worried about cash flows, cut budgets and optimize the manpower and PETRONAS was no different,” Wan Zulkiflee said, as reported by Bernama.

 


Cost-cutting measures save RM3.4b for Petronas

October 6, 2016

Dateline 2016-08-17, FMT:

Malaysia’s oil giant, Petronas, has saved RM3.4 billion since embarking on cost-cutting measures in 2015 and this effort will continue even if oil prices recover.

“Through the Cost Reduction Alliance programme, we have managed to cut RM3.4 billion in terms of our costs since we started till the middle of this year,” its president and group chief executive officer, Wan Zulkifli Wan Ariffin, said.

He said this at the International Conference of Blue Ocean Strategy’s plenary session themed “Delivering High Value at Low Cost” here today.

The Cost Reduction Alliance, or Coral 2.0, is a five-year industry-wide programme from 2015 to 2019, driven by Petronas, with the aim to inculcate a cost-conscious mindset across Malaysia.

Wan Zulkifli said the transformation kicked in when oil and gas companies, including Petronas, were hit by tumbling prices from 2014.

 


Engineer’s Run 2016

October 5, 2016

I partook of the 5km run. I think I put off a lot of students at UM from studying engineering.


Living Offshore

October 5, 2016

For those of you who haven’t been offshore for a while, yup, the same beds and communal toilets await you. They have obviously been cleaned since the last time you partook of the facilities.


Shout Out – Talk on “Critical Thinking for Engineers” 2016-10

October 5, 2016

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be  hosting a talk on the 12th October, 2016 byIr. Al-Khairi Mohd Daud and Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran. It’ll be at 5:30pm   (makan-makan at 5:00pm)

Engineers always faced with a challenge to make a tough decision throughout his career. In real life, decisions are not made based on one factor only but multiple factors need to be evaluated for a decision to be made objectively and wisely. Thus engineer needs to master the art of critical thinking.

Critical thinking is the identification and evaluation of evidence to guide decision making.  A critical thinker uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his/her beliefs clearly and accurately.This’ something that need to be practiced when we encounter engineering problems, business decisions so that we can work towards a solution.

This is a preview on our upcoming course on Critical Thinking. During the course, we will practice some of the important skills of critical thinking, and apply those to understand current problems, belief systems and ethical positions. You will learn to appraise information and influences, discuss topics intelligently and construct well-reasoned arguments.

 

Ir. Al-Khairi Mohd Daud has over 23 years of experienced in Oil and Gas, petrochemical, oleo chemical, manufacturing and facilities management. He is the country expert for ASEAN Energy Management Accreditation Scheme and an expert in healthcare facilities management. He has assisted in drafting few Malaysian Standards including the Malaysian Standard for Quality in Healthcare. He has presented papers in national and international conference especially on maintenance and asset management. He is the owner of Faqeh Management who specialized in asset and energy management.

Ir. Danaraj Chandrasegaran 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.
Register here or download the form here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here.


IEM Shout Out – 2016/10 One Day Course on Demolition Using Explosives

October 4, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day course on the 20th October, 2016, presented by Brig General Mustapha Omar, Ir. Look Keman Sahari and Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias Yusof. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Wisma IEM. I expect that you register using your actual names, not your Pokemon handles.

Malaysia is considered a young country and rapidly developing. We see many new high rise building coming up even on small plot of land in city area. This is due to high cost of land. However, anything that goes up some day, sometimes it will have to come down. It can be due to aging, high cost of maintenance, availability of new technology, new planning by the owner or authority or whatever other reasons. It is very rare when forwarding development plan, the subject of the need for demolition later is ever considered. Bringing down a building or any structure by mechanical means for example will subject the neighbours to vibration, dust noise and numerous other dangers to them for a long time. It may even take several months. There are also incidents where demolition workers were injured and some were killed in line of duty. Demolition by using explosive may require the services of civil/structural engineer working together with the blasters and blasting engineer. The preparation may take months to study the structural plan of the building to be taken down, to survey the surrounding area and plan how to mitigate the effect of airblast, fragmentation, dust and ground vibration.

Hj Look Keman bin Sahari graduated in mining engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland in 1979. He joined the Mines Department initially as Geotechnical engineer specialising in Slope engineering particularly technical investigation on slope failures. He later joined the Inspectorate division of the Department until retirement in 1996. In 1990 he continued his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, England and obtained MSc in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. His interest was then on the use of Shape Charge in the industry. On retirement he worked as Consultant Engineer in the use of explosive for mining, quarrying and construction. He had also served as expert witness in control blasting in Arbitration. As a committee member of IEM Training Board he had attended many courses particularly on Geotechnical Engineering, Health and Safety, forensic engineering and also tunnelling as Auditor. He is a Professional Engineer with Practicing Certificate and a Fellow of IEM. He had also given lecture on explosives application at IEM and Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is also a qualified Shotfirer..

Brig General Mustapha bin Omar is a qualified Ammunition Technical Officer and had rose through the rank in the Malaysian Army  to become to Chief Ammunition Technical officer He is  an expert in the application of military explosives including demolition. He also had a Diploma in Industrial Management from UKM in 1993 and subsequently Bachelor in Business Administration from UPM in 2001. In 2002-2003 he further his studies at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University at MSc level in Explosives Ordnance Engineering. He is also knowledgeable in the use of commercial explosives and had attended a Shotfirer Course organised by Institute of Quarrying, Malaysia. He is currently a Senior Research Officer at STRIDE ( Institute Penyelidekan Sains Teknologi Pertahanan)

Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Mohamed Alias bin Yusof obtained his Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from UTM in 2002, MSc in Project Management from UITM in 2005 and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2012 from University Pertahanan National Malaysia. He is also a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineer. Dr Alias specialises in the Blast Effect on Structure. He is also knowledgeable in Commercial and Military explosives and had also attended course in Explosives Engineering at Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University He also attended Shotfirer Course and Blast Vibration, Monitoring and ControlCourse at Institute of Quarrying Malaysia.

Register here, or download the form here.


Shout Out – One-Day Course on Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) 2016-11 Training For Workshop Participants

October 4, 2016

My technical division will be hosting a 1 day seminar on the 15th November, 2016. It is worth 6.5 CPD points, and held at Hilton Hotel. Since I’m giving it, I expect hoards will have to be turned away at the gates. And it’s a big room, so I need to fill the seats.

In the Layer of Protection methodology, a Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) designed to eliminate the cause of a risk or minimize the consequence of an event. The expectation of the SIF’s reliability to perform upon demand must be defined so that it is designed appropriately. The Safety Integrity Level (SIL) study is a tool used this.

This full day course is designed to educate participants in the SIL process from the perspective of a SIL team member. It is meant to provide both instruction and workshop sessions so that the participants:

  • Are familiar with the concept of ‘risk’
  • Are familiar with the theory and terminology behind Layers of Protection, SIS, SIF, SIL and LOPA
  • Are familiar with the different SIL methodologies: risk graph, risk matrix, LOPA.
  • Have expectations as to what the SIL workshop will (and won’t) provide.
  • Understand what deliverables can be expected from a SIL workshop.
  • Have the opportunity to participate in SIL exercise in a safe environment.Opportunity to share SIL experiences.

Wata has 19 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, in both design and operations.

Register here, or download the form here.


Saturday Star 2016-10-01– Job Opportunities

October 3, 2016

Happy, happy week.

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.

  • A mate of mine is looking for a MD/EngMan type person to help run his engineering company (the main business is skid manufacturing). He can’t handle the work volume, so you know that his oil & gas company is bucking the trend, and has a bright future ahead. If I know you, send your CV’s to me. If I don’t know you, send your CV along anyway, but note I will contact your references. I am not getting a commission for this ad, you know.
  • 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 4Q2016. Send me your POs.

Support your local bookshop!  Bookalicious at The Summit Subang is a good choice. I think they focus on trilogies, quadrilogies, and other ologies. Tell them I sent you, and enjoy the look of perplexity on their faces. Those of you who have dropped my name, thanks!

Food choice of the week? Any weight loss diet.

Let’s get a bit nostalgic with the book selection.

Wetter, Louder, Stickier: A Baby Blues Collection (Baby Blues Scrapbook), BBXX: Baby Blues: Decades 1 & 2, Bedlam