Article ‘Kenapa BN Mahu Sangat Rampas Kelantan’ – Take 1

March 20, 2008

I thought I’d comment on the blog entry at kickdefella.wordpress.com. I’m more interested in the oil and gas perspective, and providing some background information.
First, I’d like to mention who owns Malaysia’s hydrocarbon (that is, oil and gas) reserves. Quoting from an article I co-authored for the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia,

"As an outcome of the petroleum crisis of 1973, which was a result of an OPEC oil export embargo by many of the major Arab oil-producing states in response to western support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War, Malaysia realised the importance and the impact that oil had on the local economy. The Petroleum Development Act (PDA) was enacted in 1974, leading to the incorporation of PETRONAS (Petroliam National Berhad) on 17 August of the same year under the Companies Act 1965. It is wholly-owned by the Malaysian government and is vested with the entire ownership and control of the petroleum resources in Malaysia. In essence, any company who wishes to take part in the exploitation of Malaysia's hydrocarbon resources act as a contractor to PETRONAS."

So, PETRONAS is the owner of all of Malaysia’s hydrocarbons, and this will not change until the PDA is amended or repelled in Parliment. Oil ownership is therefore not a drive to take over Kelantan.

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Posted by Wata

Fireflies – Chem Eng Marvel

March 18, 2008

My family and I went to see the fireflies along the Yak Yak river, near Ijok, Kemaman, Terengganu. We went after dinner at Tong Juan, which is in Chukai, and well known among oilman for its stuffed crabs (though to be honest, they aren’t the only stuffed crab game in town).

Turns out that the firefly attraction is not well developed. You have to arrange for a boatman to meet you at the jetty. The boats are equipped with electric motors, so the tour is nice and silent.

The light produced from the stern of the firefly comes from the oxidation of luciferase with luciferin as a catalyst. The reaction is apparently 90% efficient. It got me thinking, is there a place for bio luminescence in the oil & gas industry? One place it could be useful is in the production of Class I Div 2 (or Div 1) lighting sources. There is little heat generated, and possibly requires some sort of pump to mix the two chemicals together. Concerns entrepreneurs have to think about are:

  • light intensity (is the light bright enough to be useful).
  • cost (the chemicals have to be made, most likely through bio engineering).
  • transportability (two chemicals have to be kept oxygen free till the time of use).
  • engineering (circulation systems, delivery of oxygen, control mechanisms).

Anyone have any other ideas?

6 Comments | business opportunity, engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Saturday Star – Jobs in the oil and gas industry

March 17, 2008

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s an incomplete list of job ads in the paper:

  • Murphy Oil is still looking for a people.
  • An interesting prospect is Linc Energy, a gas-to-liquids company in Australia.
  • Cameron, a service provider, has an ad out. My latest dealings with them was regard to their wet gas meter offerings. Valves spring to mind as well. They are having a walk in session this month.
  • Sumatec have some positions available.
  • Ah, the permanent sinkhole for Malaysians, QP, has an ad, but not for engineers.
  • McDermott has some positions, though I’m not sure where they are as the advert is coming out of Singapore.

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful.

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Posted by Wata

Engineering Companies – Is there a Critical mass?

March 15, 2008

A phrase that keeps on cropping up with me and my discussion buddies is the term ‘critical mass’. Of the different interpretations we have for this term, I think the best one means that it is the size of technical resources that results in a quantum leap of company income, better control over the projects and activities staff work on, and a perceived breakthrough of barriers that will allow better rates of return. (Never mind that a quantum is the smallest change a system can undergo).

Now, is there a minimum number which is considered critical mass? I would propose that it depends on the following factors:

  • Is the company privately or publicly owned? I know of a flow assurance consultancy where the number of technical staff is … one. The owner (and chief grunt) seems happy, so I suppose that he is at his critical mass.
  • On the other hand, there are companies that are undergoing acquisitions and mergers, so that they have access to a bigger (and possibly more sympathetic) money pool to allow for expansion, and have instant branch companions and name recognition around the world. A recent presentation by Expro/ Petrotech bring this to mind.
  • From an engineering management perspective, I would posit that critical mass is the level of resources required such that the departure of personnel does not require a large reshuffle of work delegations. In this period of high demand, it seems that every engineering office should be powered by engineers joining and departing through a rotating door. Critical mass should be sufficient that you are happy with the revenue derived from a work base-load, and are solvent enough to have some engineering fat to perform work to that meets quality standards while waiting for new troops (read: new hires) to replace the workplace casualties. 

6 Comments | engineering, investment, Malaysia, oil and gas | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Idea – Feedback of broken rear car lights

March 14, 2008

Have you ever been driving behind a car which does not have working brake lights? Kinda dangerous, especially in KL traffic at 6:30 pm on a rainy evening. It is possible that the driver might not know that his lights have gone kaput, and causing distress to his fellow drivers.

How’s this for an idea. The brake light indicator on the dashboard should provide positive feedback that the all brake lights are lit upon activation of the brakes (in Malaysia that’s at least 3 lights). Maybe it should flash when one or more of the lights do not light up, and be continuously lit when all lights are working.

I got this idea from the oil and gas industry. Compressor startup sequences are notoriously finicky processes. Various steps must be executed within a certain time frame, or the process is aborted. A number of these steps involve opening or closing valves. A command to open or close is sent to the valve through the compressor control panel. Positive feedback is provided via limit switches on the valves. If the valve receives an instruction, say to open, but the limit switch indicates otherwise (valve still closed or partway open), then the whole startup sequence is aborted.

Side note: some organizations keep a record of attempted starts to successful starts. 30 is considered normal.

Note that confirmation of the startup sequence valve position is separate from the control signal sent to the valve. I believe that this idea was taken from the nuclear industry, where they need to know the position of control rods in reactors. I take took this idea, and have applied it to car brake lights, i.e. the brake light status is independent of the brake demand.

Basic engineering question: what is the cost threshold to implement this in cars? Is Proton (Malaysia’s national car manufacturer) interested in the idea?

2 Comments | business opportunity, engineering, investment, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Malaysia – An engineer’s take on oil subsidies

March 13, 2008

Since oil subsidies have been a staple ingredient in the media, I thought I would list down some items of discussion with respect to either maintaining or dismantling the current subsidy structure:

  • Subsidies stifle efficiency: With low consumer energy prices, industry might not be willing to develop more efficient technologies that increase efficiency, as there is no financial incentive to do so. Examples of such technologies are inverters to smooth out the start-stop power requirement of equipment such as air conditioners, more efficient lighting technology.
  • Subsidies artificially increase commercial efficiency: If the viability of new manufacturing lines or engineering solutions have a energy cost component, then because energy is cheap, the return on investment would be higher than if energy was factored in at global prices.
  • Malaysian pays for neighbours’ gas: ‘Nuff said.

1 Comment | business opportunity, engineering, investment, Malaysia | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wata

Idea, meet money – Start a local Dragons’ Den?

March 12, 2008

It was brought to my attention yesterday that the BBC has an ongoing reality show called the Dragons’ Den. It’s a series where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to secure investment finance from the Dragons — five elite business experts who are ready to pitch-in with their own money.

How about the Malaysian government, via the Ministry of Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development (MeCD), start a television program with the same idea? To gather a larger crowd, some of the segments can be recorded in front of a live audience, to build up an initial critical mass of viewers. It’s not the same financial league as other game shows, but I would suggest that the number of successful ideas turned into SMIs is more important than having a smaller amount of winners with larger investments in each.

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Saturday Star – Jobs in the oil and gas industry

March 10, 2008

Those of you who regularly scan the Malaysian Saturday Star newspaper job ads might have missed the following posted on March 8th:

  • Technicians wanted for Petronas
  • Saudi Aramco has an open day on 15th March, 2008
  • ExxonMobil Malaysia is looking for a Mooring Master, and technicians.
  • Aktins is looking for a few good designers
  • Shell is looking for all sorts of skills
  • Murphy really needs a mess of people.
  • Qatar Petroleum has some posts in logistics.
  • Hess is on the lookout.

and the state governments of Kedah, Perak, Pulau Penang and Selangor are looking for people to make up the new lineup.

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Posted by Wata

Malaysian Elections 2008 – My tiny piece of the pie

March 9, 2008

Today is the day after, day after Malaysians went out and put their pens where their mouths are, to mangle a phrase. There will be commentary on the results all day long.

I, however, just want to share the results of the constituency where I voted.

To quote from the Election Commission(Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya):

P.101-HULU LANGAT N.23 – DUSUN TUA ISMAIL BIN SANI BN 13,542 MNG
  MOHD SANY BIN HAMZAN PAS 11,579  
 
JUMLAH PEMILIH : 32,248  
KERTAS UNDI DITOLAK : 459  
KERTAS UNDI DIKELUARKAN : 25,580  
KERTAS UNDI TIDAK DIKEMBALIKAN : 0  
PERATUSAN PENGUNDIAN : 79.32%  
MAJORITI : 1,963  

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Business Idea – Produce SIM address book reader

March 7, 2008

I know, the title is a strange ‘un, but hear me out. I, like a few other Malaysians , have a land phone line. However, most of the time it is convenient to make a call using my cell phone, thanks to the address book feature. On the down side, a cell phone call is more expensive than a land line call. So, I trade off cost for convenience.

How, how about someone coming out with a device that can read contacts off your SIM card, possibly store it in its memory, and then be used to dial out via your land line? I suggest storing the contacts in its memory, as it might be inconvenient to switch SIM cards in and out. It might need some logic to decode the various forms of numbers which are kept in the card (1234567, 0121234567, +60121234567, etc), but maybe TMwould be interested in such a product. Maybe incorporate it with their CLIP (caller line identification) function. Hey, maybe even integrate it with their Homeline SMS. 

What would be your price sweet spot? RM30?

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Posted by Wata

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