Santos strikes oil in Malaysian drilling

May 3, 2015

Dateline 2015-03-26, The Sidney Morning Herald:

Santos has reported a “significant” oil discovery in its deep-water exploration campaign in Malaysia, providing a welcome piece of good news for investors.

The Bestari-1 well, drilled with Malaysian national operator Petronas, comes just two months after Santos completed a deal to buy a 20 per cent stake in the Block R Production Sharing Contract containing the exploration prospect.

Santos’s vice-president for Asia, John Anderson, said Santos was “very encouraged” by the find, which he said had similarities to “some of the other world-class fields in the area”.

Block R, located offshore East Malaysia, lies in an area where large fields have been discovered, including Murphy Oil’s Kikeh and Shell’s Gumusut-Kakap oilfields.

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Malaysian oil rig transformed into a hotel

May 2, 2015

Old news, but… I feel the need for (sea)weed.

Dateline 2015-03-25, new.com.au:

THIS is the abandoned oil rig that has been transformed into a scuba diving hotel.

Seaventures Dive Rig Resort, located next to Mabul Island, Malaysia, is the perfect getaway for those looking to enjoy the sea breeze from the comfort of their hotel room.

The incredible site, previously used for oil and gas exploration, offers a range of diving experiences to guests who can enjoy a stay in one of 25 fully-furnished rooms as the rig.

It also boasts a movie room, a karaoke lounge and bar, pool tables, table tennis, a souvenir shop and a conference room.

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Adenan admits spectacular failure of oil talks

May 1, 2015

Spectacular as “we lost a pocket lining income pipeline”, or “we managed to get hit with GST on the royalty?”

Dateline 2015-03-19, FMT:

Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem, just back from a visit to Sabah from where he came away “impressed”, has disclosed that oil talks with Petronas and the Federal Government have failed and spectacularly at that. “We don’t want people to take away our oil and gas with us being onlookers,” said Adenan. “We want an equal partnership.”

“We don’t want to be spectators. We want to be active participants.”

He pledged that the Sarawak Government would pursue the revised oil royalty demand until “we achieve what we want”.

The talks, based on an unanimous resolution passed by the Sarawak Assembly, was about raising the oil royalty to a respectable 20 per cent cash payout. Sabah and Sarawak, at present get a measly 5 per cent.

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Malaysia’s energy shares rout yet to hit bottom

April 30, 2015

Yeah, baby. Someone let me know when I can buy shares lots with the money in my pocket.

Dateline 2015-04-19, Malay Mail Online:

Investors looking for bargains among Malaysia’s tumbling energy stocks say it’s too early to buy as oil’s slide to a six-year low pummels an industry that accounts for about a fifth of the nation’s exports.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, the country’s biggest oil and gas services company, has tumbled 46 per cent in Kuala Lumpur trading in the past 12 months as peers Bumi Armada Bhd and UMW Oil & Gas Corp both lost at least 48 per cent. Analysts have cut recommendations on the stocks to the lowest levels since at least 2013, while Malaysia’s state energy company announced spending cuts of as much as US$8.1 billion (RM29.78b) last month.

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IEM Shout Out – Conversion of Organic Wastes and Unused Biomass to Valuable Materials and Energy Using Sub-Critical Water

April 29, 2015

This is a shout out for the IEM. The Chemical Engineering Technical Division (know as CETD to friends) will be having a talk on Wed afternoon, 6th May, 2015, by Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshida .

Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshida obtained B. Eng. Degree in 1969 and Dr. Eng. in 1977 in Chemical Engineering from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. He worked for this University from 1974 to 2013. He became a professor in 1995. From 2013, he has been working for Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UPM as a contract professor.

Sub-Critical water is high temperature and high pressure water but lower than those of critical points (647 K, 22.1 MPa). It shows three typical characteristics. Firstly, sub-critical water (sub-CW) has a great hydrolysis power at around 520 K and organic solids quickly decompose into low-molecular-weight valuable materials. Secondly, sub-CW works as a strong solvent and can extract oil almost perfectly at once. Thirdly, when the temperature is higher than about 600 K, hydrolysis power becomes small and pyrolysis power becomes great. The pyrolysis reaction can convert organics to liquid oil (alternative heavy crude oil) and/or solid char.

You can register here, and download the brochure here.

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Tales from the Engineering Floor – Cheesecake Diagram

April 29, 2015

In the safety scam, there are things such as a layers of protection diagram:

The idea is that a cause or hazard leads to a consequence only if all the layers fail. This is visually shown in a Swiss cheese diagram:

This is the Cheesecake diagram:

Though, some items are the same:

  1. There are layers
  2. If one layer is defective, it may not affect the overall facility
  3. If all layers are defective, go get your money back.
  4. Don’t do technical safety while hungry.

Which do you prefer?

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IEM Shout Out – Half Day Course on Incorporating CDIO (TM) framework through Project based learning (PBL)

April 28, 2015

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be having a course on 13th May, presented by Ir Assoc. Prof. Dr. Satesh Namasivayam . It’ll be at 9am at Wisma IEM.

Ready to engineer. So it is said. But what is engineer and how do you engineer? What are the barriers to engineer and what are the key factors necessary to educate engineer? How to think like an engineer? Incorporating CDIOTM framework through Project based learning (PBL) can be one of the solutions. The CDIOTM initiative has been developing as more collaborators from all over the globe are taking this initiative as a base for their educational institutions adopting what so-called the “active learning” policy which includes, but not limited to, a complete system of a well-designed syllabus covering the skills and characteristics of graduating engineers.

Throughout CDIOTM phases, the learning process has changed from passive-note taking to more active-project-based education. This half-day workshop is designed with three (3) objectives as follows

  • Introduce participants to Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate initiative
  • Integrate CDIO initiative in curriculum to address complex, value added engineering products, processes, systems in modern and team-based environment;
  • Review the know-how of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating complex engineering systems of appropriate complexity.

Ir Assoc Prof Dr. Satesh Namasivayam BEng (1st Class Hons) PhD (London) FIMechE MIEM CEng PEng CIT (HRDF) is a Chartered and Professional Mechanical Engineer, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Deputy Dean from the School of Engineering at Taylor’s University, Malaysia.

You can register here, and get the flyer here.

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Struggle for her homeland

April 28, 2015

Not a Malaysian story, but just outside our borders. And lessons to be learnt.

Dateline 2015-03-16, Bangkok Post:

Suraida Tolee never thought that one day she would lead the people in Chana district, on the Thai-Malay border in Songkhla province, in a fight against government policies. That fight began 20 years ago, and continues to this day. Her life was at peace until she learnt that the Thailand-Malaysia gas pipeline and separation plant project would be built in her homeland as a result of the government’s development policy for the South.

And today her community faces a different struggle against another controversial policy: planned deep sea ports in the Gulf of Thailand that threaten the environment and local people’s livelihoods.

When the gas pipeline was first mooted in 1996, the mother-of-three and at that time council member of the Tambon Administration Office (TAO) in Khlong Pia, Chana district, decided to find out the truth.

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Saturday Star 2015-04-25– Job Opportunities

April 27, 2015

Happy Diving at Tenggol Week. Meet me there, and take a selfie. Also, Buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Or get the Young Turks series (all 4 books). Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me.

  • I say that when the design houses execute a mass firing campaign, the trade papers should pick it up. What say you, R?
  • An associate of mine is looking for a senior level instrument and well completion engineer, 10 years in the position (no, not position 23b, second variant). Send your CV to me. As per my Facebook posting, idiotic applications, straight to /dev/null.
  • An associate of mine is looking for a technical safety part-time adviser. Needs to be needle sharp with respect to QRAs, and HSE safety cases. A calm demeanor to handle nonsensical questions from young engineers helps as well. Either that, or a drinking problem.
  • Hess is still looking for a measurement and allocation engineer (2 I believe). I saw that the ITB is still floating around. If you want me, you know where to find me. Not Celebrity Fitness, if you need a hint.

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? Go visit the mee bandung / asam pedas stall in front of the Petaling Jaya Police Station (don’t ask).

Seen the Episode VII new trailer? Ff you say “What is episode vii?”, I disown you.

Join the Star Wars Fever:

Star Wars Trilogy Episodes IV-VI (Blu-ray + DVD), Star Wars Trilogy Episodes I-III (Blu-ray + DVD), Heir to the Jedi: Star Wars

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Oil Prices: Get Ready for the Next Leg DOWN

April 26, 2015

Nah, price will keep above USD60 after my birthday. What odds will you offer me?

Dateline 2015-03-15, Malaysia Chronicle:

After a steep drop late last year the price of oil has stabilized over the past month to right around $50 per barrel. However, that stability might not last long as there are signs on the horizon that the oil industry could be in for another leg down. That has some analysts suggesting that oil could hit $30 per barrel before rebounding later this year.

Growing concerns

In the International Energy Agency’s, or IEA, monthly report released this week it said it sees near-term trouble for oil prices. According to the Agency, its concern is that the U.S. might soon run out of spare storage capacity, which will put pressure on the price of oil this spring. The report noted that “on the face of it, the oil price appears to be stabilizing. What a precarious balance it is, however.” The report then went on to note, “[B]ehind the facade of stability, the rebalancing triggered by the price collapse has yet to run its course, and it might be overly optimistic to expect it to proceed smoothly.”

Those aren’t exactly encouraging words for oil executives or energy investors. It’s leading to some dire short-term predictions for the oil price. For example, Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE: GS ) president, Gary Cohn, said he thinks that crude could fall to as low as $30 per barrel this spring as storage capacity tightens up leaving fewer buyers of oil. It’s also not helping matters that demand for oil in the U.S. is lower in the spring as refineries switch over from producing home heating oil to summer blend gasoline. This leads to less demand for oil each spring, which could exacerbate this year’s oil glut with no other outlet for U.S. oil due to the export ban.

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