PETRONS Dagangan the worst KLCI performer

July 1, 2010

The title says it all, though I do think it is understood you need to tag on “for the trading day” at the end.

From the Business Times, dateline 2010-06-24:

Petronas Dagangan Bhd, the retail arm of Malaysia’s state oil company, fell the most in more than two years after exceeding a technical indicator that some investors use as a signal to sell the stock.

The shares slid 4.9 per cent to RM9.30 at 9.19 am local time in Kuala Lumpur. On June 23, they jumped 5.2 per cent, increasing their 14-day relative strength index to 77, the highest since October 20.

Some traders and investors use a reading above 70 as a signal that prices have risen too rapidly and may drop.

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Posted by Wata

Clamp Off

June 30, 2010

This is what happens when you either misjudge your corrosion problems, are given bad advice by your supplier of chemicals to mitigate corrosion, or unable to shutdown your critical process lines.

Clamping of Process Line

I worry whether the line has lost so much integrity that there is an possibility of spontaneous rupture. Good thing it’s not a the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

7 Comments | oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

IEM Shout Out – Introduction to Industrial NDT

June 29, 2010

This is a shout out for the IEM. My Technical Division will hosting a course on the 13th and 14th July, 2010. You’ll get to visit TNB’s Integrated Learning Solution – ILSAS at Bangi in addition to getting 13 CPD or PDP points.

OBJECTIVES

  • To identify / enumerate four (4) main types of NDT inspection methods.
  • To select the most appropriate method/technique for NDT inspections to detect surface/volumetric discontinuity and defects in accordance to relevant code and standards in industries.

The course will be presented by Mohd Murthadza B. Abd Rahman and Mohd Noor B. Abd Rani

Flyers for the above and other events may be obtained here.

I appeal to readers, come on and send yourselves and staff to these courses. I need the support.

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Saturday Star 2010-06-26 – Job Opportunities

June 28, 2010

Support me by purchasing my recommendations, or buying through my Amazon store.

First off, if you need my help to submit your CVs, donate to the blog, and I’ll review your CV to see if it is worthy of my (and my associates’) expectations. If you can’t figure out how to donate, no need to ask. I take it the industry’s booming again, looking at the number of ads in today’s paper.

Murphy is looking for a subsea engineering manager. Send your applications here.

Hmm, short list this week.

As for reading recommendations, I think the Millennium Trilogy would be your best bet. I didn’t realise that the author passed away in 2004, with the first English translation of his book being published posthumously. For those who don’t know which books I’m referring to:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage)

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

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Posted by Wata

Sudanese blood spills into Asia

June 27, 2010

Following up on my expose on PETRONAS’s involvement (okay, my cut and paste on PETRONAS’s involvement), here’s some more information. Asia Times online, dateline 2010-06-25:

Far beyond America’s Gulf Coast another oil disaster has struck, but the current damage stems from allegations of possible complicity in “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. The activities in question occurred in Sudan between 1997 and 2003, with an oil consortium led by Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum at the center of a growing storm with implications potentially impacting Asia’s oil interests.

Sweden’s coverage of the story has been dominated by questions surrounding what it means for Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a member of Lundin’s board from 2000-2006. The possibility of Bildt, Sweden’s prime minister from 1991 to 1994, being criminally prosecuted has been widely reported.

…

The ECOS report, “Unpaid Debt: The Legacy of Lundin, Petronas and OMV in Sudan, 1997-2003”, argues that “the home governments of Lundin (Sweden), Petronas (Malaysia) and OMV (Austria) have failed in their international obligations to prevent human-rights violations and international crimes”

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Higher Acceptances Received For M3nergy Takeover Offer

June 26, 2010

I’ll just pull out what I think are the pertinent paragraphs from this Bernama article, dateline 2010-06-19:

Adamus Avenue Sdn Bhd (AASB), which launched a conditional takeover of M3nergy Bhd, offering RM1.85 per share, has received over 71 per cent acceptances for the voting shares of the oil and gas services provider, as of June 19.

Companies controlled by major shareholder, Tunku Datuk Yaacob bin Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, who owns 71.14 per cent of M3nergy, have confirmed acceptance of the conditional offer.

…

Meanwhile, it was reported that AASB is a private company owned by Datuk Shahrazi Sha’ari, who is the current Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of M3nergy.

Can you say, management buyout? We look forward to the new owner sending all their specialist process work to us.

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Pick the Right Datum

June 25, 2010

First conversation:

“will the railings be for stairs inclined at 30° or 45°?”

“Who cares? No one will notice.”

We noticed.

Railings at an angle, no camera tricks.

The second conversation

Young Client Engineer “Go fabricate the railings correctly!”

Wise Contractor “Well, we need a variance order, which will take 2 weeks, which will delay your schedule, which will need the plant GM’s approval, which will flag up your mess up to top management, ruining your perfect KPIs… Aren’t your performance appraisals happening next week? No one will notice. The stairs are still safe, aren’t they”

Client Engineer “Umm, Ok then, carry on.”

8 Comments | oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

PETRONAS unfair to Sabah?

June 25, 2010

First, the important stuff. Today is the one year anniversary demise of the King of Pop. C’mon KL, let’s roll down those car windows, and here his hits blast out across the streets! And a bit of moonwalking as well.

Back to our scheduled broadcast. A former chief minister speaks out against PETRONAS. He’s asking for a Sabahan to be appointed to the Board to look out for Sabah’s interests. Don’t know about you, but doesn’t a board of a company look out for its own interests? You would assume that Sabah will be a big contributor in the future, so if the Board was reasonably competent (and the PETRONAS senior executive team reasonably… reasonable?) Sabah’s future in the PETRONAS scheme of things is already taken care off.

Dateline 2010-06-24, though I don’t know how credible the e-newspaper is.

Kota Kinabalu: The best means of ensuring that Sabah’s interests are not ignored in Petronas’ dealings is to have a Sabahan appointed to its Board, said former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh.

“It is believed that no Sabahan has been appointed by Petronas as a Board Member since its inception,” he said in a statement, Wednesday.

He said it was more timely now as “I understand Sabah is at the start of an oil boom after a string of successful discoveries of deep water fields”.

He believed the State’s deepwater projects like Kikeh, Gumusut/Kakap, Ubahcrest, Pisangan, Malikai Sumandak, Ambalak, etc, would propel Sabah to be the biggest producer of crude oil in Malaysia.

He said the projections are that Sabah is expected to produce 500,000 to 600,000 barrels per day compared to the current national production of only 700,000 barrels per day.

“This is not inclusive of (ex-Petronas Chairman) Tengku Razaleigh’s claim of a huge oil deposit found off Sabah, the biggest in South East Asia capable of producing one million barrels per day,” he said.

With the massive expected production from Sabah and from its operations since 1975, Harris presumed the State would be fully engaged in the industry, with major oil and gas infrastructures, downstream industries and activities.

…

I want an Orang Noghri (or Sumatran) to be appointed to the Board, to ensure adat pepatih is fairly represented in legal dealings.

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Food Presentation- Chiang Rai

June 24, 2010

I’ve been out of the country. As part of the tour, we had food at Muslim restaurants from Chiang Mai northwards (and westwards as well).

I am not sure whether this group of restaurants base their dining selection off a proto-menu, or whether this is typical local fare.

Anyone have recommendations where to go in Chiang Mai for shopping should I happen to be there again soon?

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Posted by Wata

From AFP: Malaysia calls for measures to halt oil price fixing

June 23, 2010

Maybe someone can enlighten me how oil price fixing works?

Taken from AFP,

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday called for a mechanism to prevent oil price manipulation, saying high prices could derail the global economic recovery.

“In this respect, proposals for greater oversight of financial markets aimed at preventing price manipulation should be welcomed if they lead to a more efficient and robust price formation,” he told an industry gathering.

Oil prices edged to around 80 dollars a barrel last October but have fallen recently, sinking below 70 dollars in Asian trade on Monday as a weak US jobs report continued to hurt investor sentiment.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, fell 1.82 dollars to 69.69 dollars a barrel in morning trade.

Najib did not speculate at what range oil prices should be in his speech in Kuala Lumpur.

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