Onshore Oil and Gas Development

Career Opportunity with MMC Oil and Gas Sdn Bhd

2008-05-09T15:19:00.003+08:00

[*Click on image to enlarge] For fresh graduates who interested to join oil and gas consultants, this is a great opportunity to you.

Oil and Gas Pricing

2008-04-29T11:43:00.002+08:00

With high price of hydrocarbons nowadays, the age of oil and gas has clearly entered a new chapter, as strong as demand and shortage of production capacity have generated a significantly higher trading range during the last twenty years.

In the pricing of hydrocarbons, quality and density of the oil is a critical factor. For instance the presence of contaminants, such as sulfur in oil and toxic hydrogen sulfide in gas, can influence prices considerably. Light oils of higher API gravity, because they produce products of higher value, such as aviation fuel and motor oil, command a higher price. Differences in price paid for hydrocarbons can be considerable, ranging from the very heavy Venezuelan crude to the light methane.

Still the main factor is supply and demand. If nobody wants it, or if there is over supply, the price will be low. If there is an actual shortage, or even a perceived shortage, prices rise. If one then adds the effects of civil strife, or OPEC holding to low production quota, effects of hurricanes like Katrina, plus speculation, the oil price will rise rapidly, sometimes spectacularly, as happened recently, even in the face of reason.

Jack-Up Rig Move

2008-04-23T11:12:00.006+08:00

Check this video out! The video shows how the Jack-Up Rig move and install at offshore. Jack-Up rig is one of the offshore rigs that widely use all over the world for drilling purposes.

Refining of Crude Oil - What Happens at the Refinery

2008-04-22T19:45:00.005+08:00

'Crude oil' is the term for unprocessed oil. Hydrocarbons contain a lot of energy. The problem is that it contains so many different types of hydrocarbons all mixed together.

The various components have different sizes, weight and boiling temperatures, so the first step is to separate them. Because of the different boiling points, the can be easily separated in a process called 'fractional distillation', in a fractionating tower.

Crude oil is heated in a boiler to high temperatures (600 degrees Celsius) The boiling mixture forms vapors (gases). The vapor enters the bottom of a fractionating tower that is filled with many layers of horizontal trays with holes in them or so-called 'bubble trays'. These holes are covered closely by 'bubble caps', similar to a loosely closed cap in a soda bottle, to let the vapor through.

As the vapor rises in the tower, it passes through the bubble caps and slowly cool. As each reaches the tray where the temperature is just below its boiling point, it condenses and changes back into liquid, to be drawn off for further processing.

Very few components come out of the tower ready for the market. They need further chemical processing. For example, only 40% of distilled crude oil is gasoline, chemical processing is required to increase that percentage. Catalytic cracking - a hot fluid catalyst of 538 degrees Celsius cracks heavy gas-oil into diesel oils and gasoline.

Exclusive Video: Gu-F Jacket Collapse

2008-04-18T11:52:00.004+08:00

Shocking video! The video of Guntong-F Jacket collapse. I bet, most of you won't have a chance to see it in front of your eyes in your lifetime. So check this out!

Foot Note:
To those who has details about this accident, appreciate if you can share it with me and other readers.

Offshore Oil and Gas Diver

2008-04-17T16:10:00.004+08:00

A diver is one of the highest paid offshore employee. As u can see the working environment is quite blur, spooky and dark. Can u imagine how challenging the works are? That's why most of oil and gas companies are willing to pay them high.

Offshore Platform Installation

2008-04-10T15:07:00.005+08:00

Check this out! This is the video that show how the Offshore Installation Contractor (OIC) installing the platform at offshore

Petronas Oil Only For Jet? What a Funny Statement From a Minister

2008-04-04T16:56:00.012+08:00

"Minyak petroleum yang dikeluarkan dari perut bumi Malaysia hanya sesuai untuk dijadikan minyak jet, dan atas sebab itulah maka kita tidak dapat gunakan untuk menampung kenaikan harga minyak dunia dan terpaksa menaikkan harga minyak tempatan"
-Datuk Zahid Hamidi
Deputy Minister of Information
Hujah@TV9

I don't want to give detail comment about the Deputy Minister of Information for his 'FUNNY' statement because you all (my blog readers) can judge it by yourself. Even secondary school student knows that the 'crude oil' produces a lot more than the fuel for jets, cars and trucks and the power to heat our homes and factories when it goes through a process called fractional distillation. The final products can be simplified to LPG (cooking gas), Gasoline, Jet Fuel, Diesel Fuel, Industrial Fuel and other products. And in fact, in refining process, the volume of oil is gained by 6.2%!

Foot Note:

My advice to our Deputy Minister of Information; Don't give one big talk for the thing you don't know otherwise peoples will laugh at you. If you don't know, ask the oil man!

Introduction To Oil & Gas: Field Life Cycle

2008-04-02T16:57:00.004+08:00

Do you know, when oil or gas has been discovered, it is not that a field will exist forever after; it comes to an end when the resource has been depleted. In general, every oil and gas field will go through 5 phases in its life and it is called Field Life Cycle.

The field life cycle have 5 phases which is:

Exploration
Appraisal
Development
Production
Decommission/Abandon

Through the exploration phase, all venues are explored to discover commercial development opportunities, locate reservoirs that could be commercially viable.

The appraisal phase starts after the exploration well has been successful; it is to appraise the extent of the hydrocarbon reservoir, obtain all information possible. This appraisal will result in the decision made in respect of future development, such as deciding on possible enhancement techniques, production facilities, type of platform and transportation.

The development phase is the time during which all decisions regarding the development will be implemented. Cost effective facilities are constructed and development wells are drilled.

The production phase is usually the longest where oil or gas are produced from the wells. During this phase, the emphasis is on managing the reservoir, the wells and facilities to optimum capacity.

The decommissioning phase is the end of a weld or field. To abandon is to discontinue producing and dispose of facilities according to applicable legislative requirements when the reservoir has been depleted.

Loadout of ABU-A Topside

2008-04-01T16:36:00.005+08:00

Have you seen how the loadout of offshore structure being performed? I show you a video; Loadout of ABU-A Topside. If I'm not mistake, this event was took place at Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd's Yard, Teluk Ramunia, Johore, Malaysia on Disember 2006.

Maybe, most of you thinking and asking, what is Loadout? For your information, offshore structure is fabricate on the ground and send to the offshore using transportation barge. Loadout is a term use to describe a process to bring or transfer the offshore structure from the ground onto the transportation barge. The loadout method usually can be divided into 3 methods; skidding method, lifting method and loadout using boogie method. The video show the loadout using boogie.

The Proof Malaysia is An Oil and Gas Producer

2008-03-31T16:55:00.005+08:00

This is the proof that Malaysia is an oil and gas producer. You can see at the back of RM50's note, there is a 8 legged Jack-Up Rig shown. I just realized it when I attended a training course where the facilitator asked all participants, how many leg the jack-up rig at the back of your RM50's note have? Everybody in that room wonder wheather is it true that we have a Jack-Up Rig picture at the back of that note or the facilitator just wanna "prank" us. Then we take-out the note, definitely there is a jack-up rig picture! :z

Unfortunately, this note already been replaced with a new one. So keep the last note of RM50 you have as a memory that once upon a time, Malaysia had proudly presented the Jack-Up Rig picture at the back of her note.

Deep Water Floating Platforms: Spar Platform

2008-03-28T07:30:00.004+08:00

Spar Platform are moored to the seabed like the TLP but where the TLP has vertical tension lines, the Spar has more conventional mooring lines (refer to figure).

Spars have been designed in three configurations. The conventional one-piece cylindrical hull, the truss spar, where the midsection consists of truss elements connecting the upper bouyant hull, referred to as hard tank, with the bottom soft tank filled with permanent heavy ballast and the cell spar which is constructed from a number of vertical cylinders.

The spar maybe the more economical to build then the TLP since it has more stability through the large counter weight on the bottom and doesn't rely on the mooring lines to keep it upright. It can also be moved laterally by chain jacks attached to the risers, to be positioned directly over the wells.

Deep Water Fixed Platform: Compliant Tower (CPT)

2008-03-27T16:57:00.006+08:00

In the drive to place drilling and production platforms in ever deeper water, structures have been developed that cater to the special unique challenges deeper water poses. Then it come with The Compliant Tower (CPT) which one of the type of platforms had been designed to serve these purpose.

Used in water depths of 3000 feet, these towers, although constructed of steel and fixed to the sea bed like a jacket, provide in their length a certain flexibility, allowing the platform to sway slightly with the movement of the sea and current, but do not move vertically so that a fixed riser can be used with the well drilling and work over rig installed on the platform.

Foot Note:

Seriously and frankly speaking, I'm dreaming to involve in constructing the deep water platform. For info, I only involve in fabrication of shallow water platforms

U can see how big and long the structure is by comparing its lenght with the tugs

Deep Water Platforms: Tension Leg Platforms

2008-03-26T17:09:00.006+08:00

Somewhat similar in design to semi-submersibles, except they are tied to the sea floor with cables or tubes that are pulled tight, put in tension, to force the platform a little lower into the water than it would normally float. Tension is kept on constantly in this way so that some lateral movement is possible but the platform is kept in a very stable position horizontally. Tension Leg Platform (TLP) are used in water depth up to 6000 feet. They can also be used as utility, satellite or early production platforms for larger discovery

Cili Padi Field Development Project

2008-03-25T16:38:00.005+08:00

The Cili Padi field is located 153 km offshore Bintulu (Malaysia), at a water depth of 91 m. The Cili Padi gas field development are operated by Shell Oil and Gas Malaysia LLC. Shell, a production sharing contract (PSC) contractor to PETRONAS, is the operator for the field, with PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd and Nippon Oil as partners.

Technip has been awarded a contract that covers conceptual and detailed design engineering for:

* topsides and substructure for a new unmanned satellite drilling riser platform,

* topsides, substructure and bridge for another new riser platform, which will be bridge-linked to the existing F23 gas production platform,

* modification of the topsides of the F23 platform for the tie-in of the two new platforms,
* a new 30 km pipeline including a subsea T-piece for the tie-in of the Selasih field, and
* a new electrical power generation and distribution system.

For the construction parts, it still under tendering process where Malaysia fabricators are said to bid for this project. It was informed that the contractors will be awarded the contract in August 2008.

Job Vacancies in Filmarine Services Sdn Bhd

2008-03-25T12:45:00.003+08:00

Filmarine Services Sdn Bhd, a labor supply's agency is seeking candidates for her client immediately. The employment basis will be 1 year contract basis with the option to extend another 1 year.

For detail information, click here to download:
Job Vacancies in Filmarine Services

You can send your resume to:

Zakaria Hj Mohd Razali
Chief Executive
Filmarine Services Sdn. Bhd.
14-6-2, Jalan 4/50
Diamond Square Commercial Centre
Off Jalan Gombak
53000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +603-40255944/45
Fax : +603-40255946
H/P : +60193260812
Email :filmarin@streamyx.com
zack_filmarine@yahoo.com.my
zack_razali@yahoo.com

Introduction to Oil & Gas: Upstream & Downstream

2008-03-16T09:53:00.005+08:00

What is Upstream and Downstream means in the oil and gas terms? Many peoples always ask me about these two terms when they hanging around with me. If you want to penetrate into oil and gas industry, understanding on these terms might help you to determine which part of this industry you really want to go in, and then develop your career to its full capacity :D What can I concluded here, Upstream and Downstream are generally referred to the activities involved in the oil and gas industry.

The detail explanation about Upstream and Downstream are described as below

Upstream is everything to do with exploration, drilling, development, production, processing and transport to an oil terminal or gas to gas processing facility.

Downstream is a term used to describe all post production processes, further transport, refining and marketing, supply of petroleum and petroleum products. Essentially, once hydrocarbons are transferred to a customer, they are downstream.

Foot note:

Hopefully, the brief explanation will give you general view what oil and gas is all about. We will have a look at the whole spectrum from Upstream to Downstream in the series of posts that I'll create in the future. So stay in touch! :D

Offshore Rigs

2008-03-15T12:30:00.008+08:00

Offshore units require additional facilities, even though the actual drilling technology applied is the same for land and offshore. Generally Offshore Rigs can be divided into 2 types of rig; Fixed Platforms and Mobile Offshore Rigs.

Fixed Platform

Built on concrete or steel legs anchored to the sea bed, support a deck, the topsides with space for the drilling rig, as well as production facilities. These platform are designed for long term use. The topsides are of modular construction and are lifted onto the jackets by a crane barge. In an operation called 'Hook-Up and Commissioning', all piping, electrical and production facilities are then connected. There are other type of Fixed Platforms such as Tender Assisted Platform Rig and Typical Jack-Up Rig that will be explained in the next posts.

Mobile Offshore Rig

Mobile Offshore Rigs differ from Fixed Platforms; they can be removed from one location to another, whereas the are fixed to the sea floor. They also require:

A floating device, a barge or vessel to support the derrick
A riser to connect the drill rig to the sea floor so that drilling fluid and cuttings can be brought to the surface
A motion compensator also often called a heavy compensator, a system of pulleys and hydraulic cylinders working against each other to dampen or eliminate the effect of the up and down motion of the rig as it heaves in a seaway, to the effect that the rig is always in the same vertical position.

Oil and Gas Employee. What are The Requirements?

2008-03-14T18:03:00.004+08:00

In this week, I received tons of resume from applicants who interested to join oil and gas industry after I circulated an email about job opportunities among my colleagues last week. Resumes I’d received were coming from lots of people from various educational backgrounds, experiences and cities. Some of them have experience while the rest are fresh graduates or un-employed peoples. It makes me realized, peoples nowadays are desperately (maybe the word is not suitable :D) want to join oil and gas industry.

I agreed with the fact that people who working in oil and gas, earn a handsome amount of salary. But it not as easy as you thinks to get a job in this industry. Don’t think with a good academic qualification even though it came from very well-known academic institutions, you have big chance to get a job. I know, most of the big companies in this field have stated the policy to only take graduates with first class degree as their employees but I told you, there are graduates with third class degree were taken as the engineer or executive by these companies. How? That was the question I bet most of you will ask. Here is the answer…

Since there are too many graduates with a good grade nowadays, these companies have too many options to pick-up the candidates to be their employees. Good academic result is not a guarantee now! Soft skills i.e communication skill, ability to give opinion about certain issues and public relation skill does help a candidate to successfully acquire a job in oil and gas industry. Yeah… It was true. It happened when I become a job seeker and before I join my current organization. My company called me and other graduates from various universities for one-whole-day interview. This interview was made as group interview where candidates are divided into few groups and were given a topic to be discussed and then present it in front of others. I have to admit that I was a second class graduate who have to compete with many first class graduates. Definitely on the paper, I have a minimal chance to get this job but I did get it because I am speak up person and that is what an employer want from the candidates.

So please bear in your mind especially for those who still studying in university. Do get a very impressive result and don’t forget to develop your soft skills as well if u want to join into oil and gas industry as the engineer or executive.

Vacancies with SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad

2008-03-13T18:32:00.003+08:00

SapuraCrest Petrolum Berhad, one of the Oil & Gas companies in Malaysia provides integrated services to the oil and gas community either onshore or offshore. They'd obtained many projects within the country and overseas and they require many peoples to complete the jobs.

In conjunction with it, SapuraCrest and its subsidiaries right now are under process to recruit new manpower. A friend of my who currently working with SapuraCrest just told me, his company will advertise the vacancies in local newspapers in this month. The available positions are listed below:

1. Contract Manager
2. Service Manager
3. Service Engineer
4. Supervisor Mechanical, Electrical & Instrumentation
5. Technician Mechanical, Electrical & Instrumentation
6. Millwright
7. Coordinator/Secretary

Please be alert with the job advertisement in upcoming weeks to get more details.

Job Vacancies in Ramunia

2008-03-13T13:02:00.004+08:00

Due to rapid development of Ramunia ‘Jewel’, Teluk Ramunia Yard and to assure delivery of products within the time and meeting the quality set by its client, Ramunia’s Production Department are searching candidates to fulfill below positions:

Superintendent / Supervisors

Discipline -Structural Construction / Mechanical Construction & Installation / Piping Works fabrication And Installation / Electrical & Instrumentation Works / Blasting & Painting Works

Requirements:

-Possessed SPM and related discipline certificates.
-At least 5 years working experience in Oil and Gas Industry with good track records.
-Those who have an experience working with Fabricators, other construction contractor or sub-contractor will ultimately have an added advantage.
-Those who have non-related experience are also encouraged to apply.

Should you meet the above qualification, please do send your resume. Year 2008 to 2010 will be a busy day for Ramunia and they’re looking for an extra hand to complete the WORKS

RAMUNIA FABRICATORS SDN BHD
22 nd Floor, Plaza Permata,
No. 6, Jalan Kampar Off Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur.
Email : recruitment@ramunia.com

Proof of Oil is Way to Expensive

2008-03-12T11:05:00.012+08:00

United Arab Emirates, one of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members. Nowadays, United Arab Emirates become one of the richest countries in the world because of its oil & gas based industries. As we know, petroleum or mostly called as 'black gold' become the most important and most valuable commodity. It was said if somebody who jumped into this petroleum business, absolutely will become rich. As per latest crude oil price 12 March 2008, it now reached USD 104 per barrel.

United Arab Emirates right now is under very rapid development. Since they get high profits from petroleum business, The United Arab Emirates government afford to fund such mega developments. You can see how crazy the development is just seeing the pictures below. Click the image to enlarge it!

Dubai in 1990 prior to craziness. U can see, only few buildings standing at that time. The environment is mostly like a dessert rather than a city

Dubai, LAST Year. You can see the different. The development was absolutely unimaginable! And for your info, Dubai authorities continue unbelievable projects development right now. Dubai is said to currently have 15-25% of all the world's cranes.

All of these was built in the last 5 years including the Palm Islands. Three of these Palms will be made with the last one being the largest of them all. They are the largest artificial islands in the world and can bee seen from space.Upon completion, the resort will have 2,000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and many other facilities. It is expected to support a population of approximately 500,000 people. It is advertised as being visible from the moon.

This is what downtown will look like around 2008-2009. More than 140 stories of the Burj Dubai have already been completed. It is already the worlds tallest man made structure and it is still not scheduled to be completed for at least another year. It will be almost 40% taller than the current tallest building, the Taipei 101.

Amazing right! This is another reasons why superpower countries want to conquer middle-east countries because they have massive amounts of 'black gold' stored beneath the ground.

Vacancies with Deleum Berhad

2008-03-11T09:09:00.004+08:00

Deleum Berhad, a company that provides specialized products and services for upstream sector of oil and gas industry are currently opened-up vacancies for technical and non-technical personnel. The positions will be based in Malaysia and overseas. The positions are as follows:

Senior Engineers
Engineers
Oilfield Specialists
Oilfield Personnel
Laboratory Technicians
Turbo-machinery Specialist
Accountant
Accounts Executives

For more details, click here. If you are interested, send your resume to recruitment@delcom.com.my

Oil & Gas Fabricators in Malaysia

2008-03-10T13:14:00.019+08:00

There are six registered fabricators in Malaysia that involve in Offshore Structure Fabrication. These six companies are members of Offshore Structure Fabricators Association of Malaysia (OSFAM). All of these fabricators, undertake engineering and fabrication of production facilities, modules and process skid system; EPCIC and support services; as well as specialized fabrication.

Listed below are the name of fabricators:

Ramunia Fabricators Sdn Bhd
Yard: Teluk Ramunia, Johor
8th Floor, Pekeliling Plaza,
Jalan Kampar Off Jln Tun Razak
50450 Kuala Lumpur, FT, W. Malaysia
Tel: +6 03 4043 1005
Fax: +6 03 4043 1058
website:http://www.ramunia.com/

Brooke Dockyard & Engineering Works Corporation
Yard: Kucing, Sarawak
Sejingkat Yard, Jln Bako Petra Jaya,
93050 Kuching, Sarawak, E. Malaysia
Tel: +6 082 439 732
Fax: +6 082 439 736
website: http://www.brockedockyard.com/

HL Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd
Yard: Lumut, Perak
Plot D1, Lumut Port Industrial Park,
Kg. Acheh, Mukim Lumut, Daerah Manjung
32000 Setiawan, Perak Darul Ridzuan
Tel: +6 05 692 3071
Fax: +6 05 692 2609
website: http://www.knpe.com.my/

Malaysian Marine Heavy Engineering Sdn Bhd
Yard: Pasir Gudang, Johor
PLO 3, Jalan Pekeliling,
P.O. Box 77, 81700 Pasir Gudang,
Johor, Malaysia
Tel: +6 07 251 2111
Fax: +6 07 251 3890
website: http://www.mmhe.com.my/

Oilfab Sdn Bhd
Yard: Pasir Indah, Klang Selangor
# 2, Section 1,
Pulau Indah Industrial Park,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia
Tel: +6 03 7804 4843
Fax: +6 03 7806 4754
website: http://www.oilfab.com.my/

Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd (SDE)
Yard: Pasir Gudang, Johor
PLO 336, Jln Suasa,
PO Box 55, 81707 Pasir Gudang
Johor DT, W. Malaysia
Tel: +6 07 251 2901
Fax: +6 07 251 0977
website: www.simeengineers.com/sde

*Note: For those who are interested to join oil and gas fabricators, send your resume to the address given

Project Management Team

2008-03-10T09:52:00.002+08:00

What is Project Management Team (PMT)? Project Management Team (PMT) is the team that performs the overall (administrative) management and risk management for a particular project.In a particular Oil & Gas Development Project, the award-winning contractor will utilize a specific and dedicated Project Management Team to manage and execute the project within the time given.

The team is lead by Project Manager and usually supported by 3 key personel; Project Engineer, Fabrication Manager and Construction Superintendent. The Project Manager was the focal point of contact with the Site Team and is responsible to control the Project Management Team. The coordinator from various supporting departments such as Engineering Department, Procurement Department, Planning Department, Material Department and Contract Department are reporting directly to the Project Engineer. At site, the Construction Team, Health, Safety and Environment Team and QC Team are reporting to the Fabrication Manager. The Construction Team lead by Construction Superintendent was assisted by discipline supervisors such as Structural, Piping, E&I, Blasting Painting and Facilities.

The typical team-specific responsibilities of a Project Management Team are to manage the project's:

Costs and budget
Communications, both internally and externally
Delivery of work products and services
Planning efforts
Personnel
Relationships with other organizations
Resources
Scope in terms of mission, objectives, and requirements
Schedule in terms of dates and milestones

and also monitor and manage the project's risks.