No need Federal allocation if Sabah gets 50pc oil royalty, says Jeffrey

50% Royalty? Pleeze…

Dateline 2012-02-16:

Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) on Wednesday said that if Sabah were to receive 50 per cent oil royalty from Petronas, it would not even need Federal allocation to develop the state.

Its Deputy Chairman, Daniel John Jambun said this in response to a statement by Sabah BN Secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan who said that Sabah would be compromised if Federal allocation or funds under the Malaysia Plan is reduced so as to pay the proposed 20 per cent oil royalty.

“Abdul Rahman forgot that under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP), Sabah and Sarawak combined, are getting only about RM9 billion as compared to about RM100 billion for the Peninsula.

“At this rate of allocation, Sabah is actually getting less than RM1 billion per year throughout the five-year Malaysia Plan.

“As such, the Federal allocations are not much and hardly fulfil all the development needs of Sabah,” he said in a statement.

…

Sabah’s opposition divided over oil

Dateline 2012-01-26:

Mere hours before Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim flew into Kota Kinabalu for a PKR Chinese New Year gathering, Jeffrey Kitingan issued a policy statement on the federal government’s payment of oil royalty to the oil states.

Jeffrey’s State Reform Party (STAR) wants a hike in the present measly five percent oil royalty to 50 percent, covering both the inner and outer waters. More on this in a while.

Earlier, just before Chinese New Year, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) revealed its economic plan which, among others, held out without much hope for a 20 percent oil royalty. The party’s other ideas for the oil and gas resources are to try and squeeze export duties, excise, and land taxes.

…

From the Star: Talisman Scholar Visits Offshore

Taken from the Star, dateline 2009-11-29

WORKING on an oil rig isn’t something many would relish, but Gan Hui Ling, 23, enjoyed her stay and made full use of her offshore experience.

Spending a week aboard the Bunga Raya Platform – located in the overlapping maritime zone of Malaysia and Vietnam – the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Bioprocess Chemical Engineering final-year student familiarised herself with the processes and equipment aboard the rig.

Though thankful that she wasn’t claustrophobic, Hui Ling’s only gripe was the rig’s limited space, which raised some accommodation problems.

Hui Ling says that the scholarship award gives her more motivation for her final year.

Her one week on the rig was part of her internship with Talisman Malaysia Limited, the national division of the oil and gas company from Calgary, Canada.

…

We hope that this inspires more lady engineers to break into oil and gas. Read ‘accomodation problems’ as ‘a four bunk room had to be emptied for one lady’, or have they changed policies offshore already?

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

From the Star – Govt may be pressured to review prices of petrol

From the Star, dateline 2009-10-23:

Crude oil prices up 15% since start of October

PETALING JAYA: Rising crude oil prices in the international market may up the pressure on the Government to review local pump prices to rein in the country’s huge fuel subsidy bill.

Crude oil yesterday retreated from a high of US$82 per barrel hit in New York overnight, but remained above the US$80 mark during Asian trading hours yesterday.

At the current level, crude oil had surged 15% since the start of October and more than doubled from a low of US$34 per barrel in March.

…

And just in time for the next general elections.

Crude oil trending - taken from the Star

From the Star – Petronas awards two offshore contracts

From the Star, dateline 2009-10-27 (I’ve been away, okay?):

PETALING JAYA: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) awarded two production sharing contracts (PSCs) for Block SB309 and Block SB310 offshore Sabah with an estimated minimum financial commitment of US$75mil and US$117mil respectively yesterday.

In a statement, Petronas said the PSCs were awarded to a partnership between its exploration and production arm Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Talisman Energy Inc’s wholly owned subsidiary, Talisman Malaysia Ltd.

Talisman Energy is a global, diversified, upstream oil and gas company headquartered in Canada.

Under the terms of the PSCs, Talisman Malaysia, with participating interest of 70% in each block, will operate both blocks.

…

Here’s something to follow up in the year, ooh maybe 2012 (3 years exploration rights, I assume).

And why does everyone spell PETRONAS with lower case? Non-O&G reporters…

 

From The Star – PETRONAS to cut Costs

Dateline 2009-06-26:

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) is seeking to slash its expenditure by 30% from the amount it spent in its 2006 fiscal year.

“There must be shared misery. We must have a hard look at costs,” said president and CEO Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Merican.

PETRONAS to cut costs

PETRONAS to cut costs

I’m getting mixed messages. The previous week’s articles said that O&G market is getting back on its feet. And then PETRONAS cuts expenditure (and the companies at their knees). And for growing companies like mine, how we gonna pay for milk and diapers?

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

From the Star – Cheaper Electricity from March

Consumers, rejoice. Environment, increase your worries. Dateline 2009-02-08:

TAMPIN: Electricity tariffs for households and industries will be reduced from March 1. It is learnt that the reduction could be between 5% and 10%.

“We are working with the Economic Planning Unit on this and I will brief the Cabinet on Wednesday,” Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said yesterday.

However, he refused to divulge the quantum of reduction.

Shaziman said that apart from lowering power rates, the Government would also give rebates to industries which consumed a lot of electricity.

Citing an example, he said the steel and semi-conductor industries could benefit as power made up the bulk of their operational costs.

The Star Electric Tariff

I’m all for reducing the burden on consumers (read: me) during these trying times. However, isn’t there a way to do it whilst still promoting good energy management? How about using Japan’s model? They give tax break for use of energy efficient processes.

Maybe give us a rebate if we buy more energy efficient equipment and consumer electrics. If we don’t claim the rebate, the money goes to TNB.

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

Gas Price Review

Taken from The Star, Dateline 2008-01-15:

The (Malaysian) Cabinet has agreed for the price of gas sold to the energy sector to be reviewed earlier than the scheduled revision in June.

The Star - Gas Price Review

But, during the last gas price review, when the price of gas went supposed to go up, nothing happened. Must be that laissez faire mechanism called political economics (my grouse for the the day).

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

Saturday Star 2008-04-12 – Job Opportunities

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

• ExxonMobil are looking for Service Station Dealers. You have to write in directly to the Retail Area Manager (Dealership Application), Level 13, ME.
• Esso Malaysia Berhad is looking for people for the Port Dickson Refinery (I did my summer internship at the Shell refinery next door).
• Shell Global Solutions (SGS to friends) is looking for people, about a pages’ worth.
• Global Process Systems (GPS) is looking for engineers, final location unknown. email and web prescence available.
• Oval Engineering is looking for a senior sales engineer / sales and apps engineer.
• Hmm, new one. Petro Rabigh is looking for people. Looking at the website, it is owned by Saudi Aramco.
• Optimal is looking for a reliability engineer, HSE delivery specialist, and planner. email and web prescence available. A lot of people moved to Optimal when it first started up, though I think the renumeration package isn’t as good nowadays.
• Asian GEOS is looking for engineers. email available. A few of my ex-colleagues moved to Orogenics, of which Asian GEOS is a member.
• Chiyoda is looking for people.

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news. PayPal donations welcome.

Saturday Star – Job Opportunities

Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s an incomplete list of job ads in the paper, though this week’s offerings seem a bit thin on the ground:

• MECIP is looking people. MECIP is a multi-discipline engineering company providing project engineering, project management, engineering studies and process engineering simulation services.
• An interesting prospect is KBR, which has an add for a Singapore position. KBR is a leading global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services and civil infrastructure sectors.
• SapuraCrest has an ad out. Sapura Group through its subsidiary, SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad [SAPCRES], is one of the leading and reputable integrated technology & service providers in the Oil & Gas industry

Happy hunting. Let me have some feedback if you find this list useful. Even better, spread the news.