Process Safety Engineers never forget.
STOP EVADING audits & disclosure on Petronas, ‘Transparency Minister’ Paul Low ticked off
July 9, 2013Dateline 2013-06-10, Malaysian Chronicles:
The government and Petronas’ responses to our call for audit of Petronas’ businesses and tendering processes in Malaysia have been evasive at best and pathetic at worst. Evasive because they tried to deemphasize the real reason of our call for the audit of by putting blames on constraints in disclosing information about their international ventures. Pathetic because the way they responded gave an impression that it was not well-thought of. It has failed to give any good excuse why an audit is not needed; it has also failed to convince that Petronas upholds high level of integrity and transparency.
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Shout Out – Talk Detection System – Preventive Or Mitigation Or Both
July 8, 2013This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will be hosting a talk on the 13th July, 2013. It’ll be at 9.00 am (makan-makan at 5.30).
Fire triangle is represented by the elements of Fuel, Oxygen and Heat Source. Vapour / Gas Explosion have 2 additional elements namely Dispersed state (stratified due to vapour density differences) and “Confined” Area for the accumulation of the gas/vapour.
In the O&G industries, detection system is more than just fire detection because it would be too late as the environment maybe hostile filled with flammable vapour or explosive gases, a catastrophic incident may occur.
The detection systems main focus probably on preventive, detecting the presence of hydrocarbon explosive gases in the vicinity, in this respect installing fixed and use of portable gas detectors are deemed as necessities. However, manufacturers using hydrocarbon in their processes seldom have gas detectors instead the use of ventilation system in diluting the area and limiting the amount of such fuel inside the area.
Electrical equipment will be a major heat source therefore the selection of the equipment must be in accordance to:
• BS EN 60079-14:2008 Explosive atmospheres. Electrical installations design, selection and erection (Malaysian Standard MS IEC 60079-14:2008)
• NFPA 70 National Electrical CodeDetection systems that are designed to mitigate an incident will take the by-products of a fire to evacuate the staff within the area or activate a suppression system. In this respect, losses arising from a fire incident will be mitigated.
Ir. Gary Lim Eng Hwa; is an experienced and qualified Professional Engineer with over 20 years of manufacturing experience in these areas; Industrial Engineering (Work Study), Project Management, Maintenance, Production and Factory Management. The 20 years of his work spanned over various industries namely industrial chemicals, diary products, jam, sauces, chocolates, confectionnaires, industrial gases (liquid nitrogen, oxygen, argon, etc), blow moulding of plastic containers and paint manufacturing (highly fire hazardous).
Register here or download the form here. A map to Wisma IEM is presented here.
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Saturday Star 2013-07-06 – Job Opportunities
July 8, 2013Buy my recommendations, or through my Amazon store. Where are those corporate sponsors? Or throw donations at me.
Help me (and you) increase my cloud presence. Pleease use some form of cloud storage, so if you lose your laptop with those oh-so-important reports, be assured that (with Internet access) the files are still accessible. Use my referrals for Dropbox, MiMedia, SpiderOak, MediaFire, Ubuntu One, Sugar Sync.
- I’m looking for a senior process engineer, 7+ years experience. Send your cv here. Also looking for process safety persons, lead piping designer, lead instrument engineer, and other seniors you think will catch my eye.
- McDermott is looking for engineering people. Visit their website, or send your cv here
- Side note: My mechanic complains that there are not enough trained mechanics are being extruded from our schools. If you know of any idle ones, he’s looking for some. Ask them to contact Kong Ming Chai at +60122951023. On another note, has this shortfall hit the news? Can I get the contract for 1Repair?
Help me (and you) increase my cloud presense. Pleease use some form of cloud storage, so if you lose your laptop with those oh-so-important reports, be assured that (with Internet access) the files are still accessible. Use my referrals for Dropbox, MiMedia, SpiderOak, MediaFire, Ubuntu One, Sugar Sync.
Break the Low Yat stranglehold! Support Newegg Malaysia, or check Amazon’s International Shipping. Yeah, baby!
If you are interested in oil and gas surface facilities, I would recommend getting Surface Production Operations, Volume 2:, Second Edition: Design of Gas-Handling Systems and Facilities and Surface Production Operations, Volume 1, Third Edition: Design of Oil Handling Systems and Facilities. And don’t forget the Coulson & Richardson classic, Chemical Engineering, Volume 6: An Introduction to Design (Chemical Engineering Technical Series)
The IEM has a coffee table book out, Engineering Heritage of Malaysia (no, it is not Datuk Seri Samy Vellu’s bio). Visit here for details.
1 Comment | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: McDermott, newegg, Synergy | Permalink
Posted by Wata
AOGC 2013: Petronas CEO calls fuel subsidies a ‘poisoned chalice
July 7, 2013So, when do we get a new chalice?
Dateline 2013-06-10:
Shamsul Azhar Abbas, CEO of Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas, Monday referred to subsidies as a “poisoned chalice” that distorts the true picture of energy pricing, and more often than not, benefit the rich more than the poor.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at the opening ceremony of the 17th Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur, though the tone was far more muted. Najib counted “rationalizing subsidies” as one of the things the country should do to address its near- and medium-term challenges.
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Posted by Wata
Anniversary – Piper Alpha Disaster
July 6, 2013Oil & Gas Engineers never forget.
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AOGC 2013: Malaysia setting up to become regional energy hub – Prime Minister
July 5, 2013Dateline 2013-06-09, Platts:
Malaysia has set itself a key strategic objective of becoming a regional energy hub, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 17th Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Najib said the energy sector plays a pivotal role in the Malaysian economy with oil and gas contributing to more than 40% of the country’s national income.
Najib said that Malaysia has halted a decline in its domestic production with 24 new discoveries made in 2012 alone. Malaysia produced 1.69 million b/d of oil equivalent in the first quarter of 2013, up 3% from 1.64 million boe/d in Q1 2012.
Leave a Comment » | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: AOGC, Najib Tun Abdul Razak | Permalink
Posted by Wata
IEM – Engineers Are Not Kayu
July 4, 2013As part of our plan to scare the living daylights out of potential fresh meat into the ranks of engineers, the IEM organised a seminar. The climax was the first (and probably) only presentation of the Engineer’s Song. Visit here and here.
2 Comments | engineering, Malaysia | Tagged: Engineers Song, IEM, Taylor University | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Malaysia’s oil production will be buoyant
July 3, 2013Dateline 2013-06-10, Sun Daily:
Production growth is set to outpace consumption growth in the Malaysian oil sector due to positive demand forecasts for oil within the Asian region, said Ernst & Young in a June 5, 2013 report on the oil, gas and energy (OGE) sectors.
“(However,) domestic demand for oil will be negated with the removal of fuel subsidies and the switch towards coal-fired power plants,” it added.
Ernst & Young predicts that the growth trend is reversed for gas, where consumption growth will outpace domestic production growth. That’s because Malaysia’s gas price continues to be the lowest in Asean and gas remains the preferred energy fuel by power companies.
Ernst & Young said Malaysia’s future growth trajectory in OGE is supported by a range of government initiatives and incentives, as well as significant private sector investments in the OGE sectors and subsectors.
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Oil and gas rich Sabah looking at coal again
July 2, 2013Dateline 2013-06-08:
Speculations are rife here that Sabah is re-looking the option of using coal as a power source despite Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s decision in 2011 to call off the construction of a proposed coal-fired power plant in state following a widespread public outcry over its effects on the environment and health.
Sabah Chief Minister had also toed the line and announced that his government had scrapped plans to use coal as a power source. Skeptics at the time had opined that the decision was “ploy” because of the 13th general elections.
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