The friendly neighbor Singa Pura

Havent been to Singapore for quite awhile. I've been here for a week to attend a well control course, primarily to renew my well control certificate (more about well control later). A lot has happened in Malaysia during my stay; from the natural disasters in China and Myanmar, TDM's blog getting more than 1M visitors within a month, the lost of Pedra Branca to Spore, Ezam rejoining UMNO, clash with toll concessionaire, more demands from State govts for oil royalty money, oil price reaching USD135 per bbl to the never-ending quarrels between our MPs over petty issues.

Anyway, since I'm in Singapore, I should divert my attention to my present location. Being a Malaysian, one cant help but compare the two nations. Singapore economy was neck and neck with Malaysia 50 years ago and have far surpassed us especially in the income per capita comparison which is 5-fold higher at $16k. The little bustling economy can boast with owning the largest oil palm plantation co in the world by market capitalization despite the fact that Malaysia has more than 400,000 hectares of it. Sings can also be proud of SIA which is the second biggest airline co in the world, 12 fortune 500 companies, etc etc. How did the gap grow so wide? They're not a oil-producing nation but owns a petroleum co which boasts a significant production around Asia.

Politically, LKY has been the biggest factor of navigating this small island into a globally recognized hub for services and investments. How could this resource-less island turn out to be so successful? I hate to say this and many will be against this notion but we need to start thinking about what went wrong and how to fix it (perhaps many have and do not know how to apply it in Malaysia, which has more political constraints).

The PAP has been dominant, just like the Barisan Nasional, but both have churned out differing results. One may argue that it's a small country and easier to manage, but that's a bit difficult to swallow. The dominance is equivalent. Don't talk nonsence about the MM or you'll be labeled as a psychopath and will get a defamation law suit up ur @$$ in two shakes of a stick.

There is a non-existent subsidy mentality here in Spore and people are told to compete or be left behind. People strive to be competitive instead of taking it to the streets. Retail business still looks good at Orchard Rd. Customer service is far superior than the typical Malaysian 'tak pe' attitude.

On media: I find articles in the ST interesting especially the ones comparing Sing and Msian politics. The Malays in Malaysia often whine and sound like they are the minority. Comments about the effectiveness of the NEP and economic prosperity among the races are often discussed. Media coverage anchors mostly on international news as I reckon there is not much news to report about the country anyway. UMNO politics and Malaysian political developments are closely watched by the Sings especially when the policies drawn by our govt directly affect them, like the petrol purchase ban in Johor.

The pride has recently multiplied when we lost the rocky structure or "island" called Pedra Branca by the Sings or Pulau Batu Putih by the Msians. This will have an impact on how the maritime border will be drawn by the two countries, as this was not and cannot be defined by the ICJ.

I've developed 2 gigantic zits either from stressing about my well control exam or thinking too much about what will happen to the Malays if they continue to be left behind and do not take the firm stance to compete.

ps: The broadband at Changi airport is fantastic and they even have free X-box terminals, which the author finds impressive, something KLIA should consider.

Job Openings

DRILLING FIELD ENGINEERS FOR ADVANCE WELL CONTROL OPERATIONS

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Job Requirements:

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	Company Name:	Keep Drilling
	Job Category:	Specialty Services
	Education Level:	Bachelors/3-5 yr Degree
	Req'd Experience:	3+ years
	Desired Expertise:	Driller, Drilling Engineering, Mud Engineer
	Proposed Salary:	Competitive Compensation
	Country:	Singapore
	Location:	Asia

GLOBAL WELLS DRILLING ENGINEER - 003JE

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Job Requirements:

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	Company Name:	ConocoPhillips
	Job Category:	Engineer - Petroleum
	Education Level:	Bachelors/3-5 yr Degree
	Req'd Experience:	8+ years
	Desired Expertise:	Drilling Engineering
	Location:	Global

Basic Drilling Concepts: Perforation

After the production hole is cased and cementing, now the well is ready to be perforated. Perforation gun is conveyed down the hole with the use of either wireline, drill pipe or coiled tubing. Wireline can be conveyed typically for wells with an inclination of <60 deg. This is because it is lowered by gravity.

Explosives are carefully positioned on the gun based on spf (shots per foot). Phasing is also used to describe the arrangement of the explosives. The charges are detonated either hydraulically (via drill pipe or coiled tubing) or using current (via wireline).

Different types of explosives will determine size of perforation tunnel, which connects the wellbore to the reservoir and temperature rating.

Working in Russia

It's probably not that bad now in Russia - not sure when these were taken. Maybe some small time co doing exploration in the middle of nowhere years (or decades) ago.

Where are the OPs??

The kolek boys, normally ahead of the pack, are so proud of their old boys that they closely keep track of the ones elected as Wakil Rakyat. Where are the OPs????

Elected MCOBs - Election 2008
Announcements
Congratulations to the following MCOBs who have won their seats:
PARLIAMENT:
1 Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN) P32 GUA MUSANG (Class of 52)
2 Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Aziz (BN) P61 PADANG RENGAS (class of 71)
3 Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah(BN) P88 TEMERLOH (Class of 78)
4 Datuk Sri Hishammuddin Hussein (BN) P153 SEMBRONG (Class of 78)
5 Datuk Sharir Samad (BN) P160 JOHOR BAHRU (Class of 65)
6 Dato Kamarul Baharin Abbas, (PKR) P132 TELUK KEMANG (Class of 64)
7 Dato` Rashid Din, (PKR) P14 MERBOK (Class of 64)
8 Dr Mohd Hatta Mat Ramli(PAS) P31 KUALA KRAI (Class of 73)
9 Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS) P19 TUMPAT (Class of 68)
STATE SEATS:
1 Zaabar Mohd Adib (BN) N26 Rantau Abang, Dungun (Class of 71)
2 Wan Abdul Hakim W Mokhtar(BN) N32 Air Putih,Kemaman( Class of 85)
3 Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid (BN) N16 Kamunting, Taiping (Class of 85)
4 Dr Nik Mazian Nik Mohamed(PAS) ,N32 Gaal, Pasir Putih(Class of 75)
5 Dr. Mohamad Taslim (PAS) N15 Maharani, Muar (Class of 68)
6 Iskandar Samad (PAS) N21 Chempaka, Pandan (Class of 78)
7 Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR) N32, Seri Setia, Kelana Jaya (Class of 99)
Selamat Berkhidmat

(Taken from MCOBA website).

Basic Drilling Concepts: Casing and Cementing

To reach a particular reservoir objective, the hole needs to be drilled in stages. Because of this, a telescopic effect will take place. Each stage will have a reduced diameter. Stages or casings placements are done strategically, considering shallow gas hazards, low pressure zones, poor consolidated sands and other factors. A typical 3km well will take 2-3 casing sizes. A surface hole will be drilled (normally 17-1/2" or 12-1/4") to a point where the formation is strong enough for pressure containment (in drilling terms, deep enough to close the BOP and shut in the well). Then, a casing (steel tubular) will be ran in joints of 12.5m all the way down to section TD (total depth) and cemented in place. For example, say we drill a 12-1/4" surface hole, we will then set a 9-5/8" casing string. Then, we will drill a 8-1/2" production hole to TD and run a 7" casing or liner. A liner is just a shorter casing section and its hanging point is in the previous casing size using what's called a liner hanger.

Cementing is the most important element of securing a hole and it's normally the easiest to screw up. Once a string of casing is ran, cement will be blown by air pressure @ 110 psi from silos on the rig to the cementing unit. The cementing unit will then mix and pump a slurry based on a pre-determined receipe. The slurry will then be pumped into the string and up the annulus. The bottom of the casing will have what's called a shoe track (just a one-way check valve to ensure that cement does not flow back into the casing string).

The recipe will include things like retarder (to make it thicken at a slower rate), fluid loss, dispersants, silica and other additives. The cement act as the bond between casing and formation. It also seals the annulus (the area between casing and formation) from gas or fluids migration. For production casing, the cement gives a certain compressive strength to enable a clean perforation for access to hydrocarbon. More details on perforation next tiem.

Basic Drilling Concepts: Making Connection

Now we've talked about how to drill a well with the use of drill bit and drill pipes. Here's a picture of a derrick where it hangs the top drive.

Now let's talk about making connections between stands of drill pipes. Drill pipes are racked back in the derrick in stands (3 joints of DP make 1 stand). Here's a video of how a stand is made to another stand, this is called making a connection. We drill by stands or increments of 30m.

Once a stand is drilled, another stand is made up from the derrick, latched to the top drive and connection is made up to the "string" in the hole. The "Hawkjaw" on the left (the one in yellow color) will move in and the connection is tighten to a pre-determined torque value, usually around 40,000 ft-lbs for 5-1/2" DP.

Excerpts from Royal Military College - The Port Dickson Years 1952 - 1961 (Part 3)

"Under the terms of the Education Ordinance, which was gazetted in March 1957, all schools in Malaya had to be administered by a Board of Governors. An administrative Order was circulated to the heads of the schools by the respective State Education Officers requiring them to establish such a Board as soon as was practicable and not later than 1st January 1958. The FMC was among the first to set up a Governing Board and its members were chosen by none other than the Chief Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman".

It's interesting to note that the Chief Minister (later Prime Minister) was personally involved in the selection of the Board members. This meant that the governing of the FMC was of high importance to fill up slots in the upper echelon of the military, public and private sectors in the years to come following independence. I do not have much details about the Board of Governors now but I was told that attendance was poor among the big stars and that the meeting are normally left to their deputies, some of which are not RMC products, thus the lack of "interest" is inevitable. OPA currently has suggested that the selection of board members be "advised" by the organization. It is important to have representations from OPs both civilians and military to preserve the quality of products for years to come. OPA has also suggested that the Board should have the ultimate say in deciding the candidates for the post of Commandant and Director of Studies and not just having someone who feels the post of Commandant is just another stepping stone in one's career.

Excerpts from Royal Military College - The Port Dickson Years 1952 - 1961 (Part 2)

"The less than satisfactory marching skills of the first intake boys in their first public apperance prompted the authorities to put in a request for a top notch drill instructor. They got one in the shape of Warrant Officer Grade I George Franks from Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, whose motto Nulli Secundus - second to none - says it all".

"RSM Franks arrived in March 1953; and one could not ask for a better Sergeant Major to put the fear of God into the boys and, it has to be said, the drill instructors under his command".

opcharlie: This is classic. This is the very fundamental that we are losing track of - discipline. Nowadays, instructors can't even as much as nudge a boy without being hammered by the wrath of the generals whose son was nudged. RSM - the symbolic and highly respected figure on the parade square - is a figure filled with honor, discipline, courage, dignity. We can't even let him do his job, how are supposed to train up the boys to be leaders of the future. Do we want wimps leading our boys in green to battle?

I was made to understand that they are no more gatings, change parades, show parades and other military methods of keeping the boys in check. The once feared PT (Physical logs) logs are not to be found in front of the AO (Administration Officer)'s office. Officers can waltz into a room and no one would bother giving the proper salute. Attires are attrocious. What has happened? The whole system looks to be another Sg Besi high school.

ps: I have yet to receive permission to post excerpts from OP Shuhud's book and may have violated copy rights. I will follow up and if it is deemed illegal, the postings will have to go.

Excerpts from Royal Military College - The Port Dickson Years 1952 - 1961

by OP Muhammad Shuhud Saaid

"At the sound of reveille - 0600 hrs - the boys had to make sure their beds were properly made after they had had their bath. The more conscientious among them would insert cardboards under the bed sheet to create the illusion that their matresses were perfectly flat and that the sides were dead straight. They also had to make sure the communal ablution and latrines - they were not called lavatories in those days - were spotlessly clean. To be on the latrine detail was something every boy tried to avoid".

I was made to understand the budak boys these days don't even use kiwi to shine their shoes. The use of toyo (instant self-shine applicant for shoes) has been authorized. The bathrooms are now cleaned by subcontractors. The basic responsibility of keeping one's coy (company) line is already delegated to strangers - how do you expect these boys to "serve to lead". Forget shining the 'pili paip bomba' (fire water faucet) on each coy line. What I was told by one senior RMC instructor is that "the boys should be concentrating on academics on sports, not slaving to clean". This is coming from a former Budak Boy who went through the same system of rigor and toughness.

Of Royal Military College and Budak Boys

Dear readers, at first, the creation of this blog was to primarily discuss the oil & gas industry for general viewers. Because of my other passion, the Royal Military College (RMC) and the legacy of "Budak Boys" (the term used for students of RMC), I felt that there is a need to also discuss this heavily. I was considering to start a new blog, but then again, if I focus the two topics into one blog, the "OP"s (stands for Old Puteras, a term used for those who graduated or "passed out" from RMC/FMC. RMC was formerly known as Federation Military College before being conferred the title "Royal", the only school in Malaysia to have it) might inadvertently read the oil & gas portion and those interested in oil & gas might read postings on RMC, thus promoting the two groups to each other.

I have just picked up a copy of a book written about RMC by OP Shuhud (the term OP precedes the name of the alumni and other titles such as "Tan Sri", "Datuk", "Dr", "General", etc are dropped. The OPs look up to each other as equals but with much respect for each other). The book starts with the history of the formation of the RMC. While reading the book, it struck me to pen some thoughts in this blog about the RMC and OPA.

I want to write more about this topic as it is all close to our hearts as OPs, including those who are serving the OPA (Old Putera Association), our old boys network. I was made to understand that the quality of Budak Boys are declining at all time low, be it sports, academics, or self-conduct. The OPA is normally and unofficially labelled as "intruding" when it comes to the affairs of college admin. There seems to be a big disconnect between the stakeholders, be it Mindef (Ministry of Defence), RMC admin, Board of Governors (comprising of the three service chiefs, OPA rep, RMC rep, Mindef rep) and OPA (Either that or I'm out of the loop as Exco member!!!).

I welcome feedbacks, comments, criticisms on this topic. My belief is that the RMC we hold dear is our responsibilities together.

Before that, let me announce upcoming events for OPA:

Annual tahlil: 19th June @ the penthouse
AGM: 21st June am @ Shangri-La
OPA Dinner: 21st June @ Shangri-La
OPPP games and OPA Annual golf: 22nd June @ RMC
Annual career talk: 29th June @ Dewan Tun Templar

RMC's charter motions its members to become the top personnel in civil service, armed forces and private sector. The OPA network is rich with achievements and many big names in armed forces, civil service, private sector and the business world passed out from the great school. However, many feel that this will not be in the years to come. Many see less OPs holding high positions as the pool of leaders is beginning to deplete. The respect and fear many have of Budak Boys of the great RMC has diminished and people just see RMC as just another school.

Many OPs contribute this to numerous reasons: the ever changing schooling system, the lack of priority of RMC in the military organization, the lack of OPA's involvement or attempts to be an influence or aid, and many more, the lack of years spent at RMC (this is a normal debate between the "thoroughbreds" or those who entered the school at the age of 13 vs the "intakes" for those who entered the school at age 15. The thoroughbreds feel superior to the intakes because of their years in RMC. I say, prove it outside the school and we'll see who's RMC material and whose not) . Whatever the reasons are, it is imperative that we continue the struggle to fight and defend what's best for the school.

Being an exco member of the OPA, I'm privy to a little bit more information than other members. The first hot topic we discuss on a monthly basis is the funds appropriated by Mindef for the development of RMC in the 9th Malaysia Plan. As much as RM 100M has been allocated for this need and was announced numerous times in AGM and other functions. I feel that the OPA needs to brief members more frequently about the developments and the issues surrounding it. I will continue to remind the OPA of this matter. Like many organizations, we are all bound to 'going through the proper channel' and I do not wish to violate this as well. Suffice to say that it is being hotly discussed and debated.

There is also a proposal to introduce the International Baccalaureate program to RMC. I feel this is a fantastic opportunity to regain lost grounds. More info about the program on www.ibo.org. I welcome members of the OPA to join us during the AGM and ask the exco on its development.

The official OPA website is http://www.opa.org.my

Serve to Lead.

Basic Drilling Concepts: Bit and Mud

Drill Bit: Drilling Engineer optimizes design by picking the best bit for the work. Different formation requires different type of bit usage. The most important parameter is cost per meter, a DE must be able to minimize cost per meter to maximize the cost effectiveness.

Once cuttings (chipped formation from bit cutting action) are produced, it is necessary to 'clean the hole' (transport cuttings to surface). The use of 'mud' (drilling fluid) is essential to: transport cuttings, keep the bit cool (the deeper it is, the higher the temperature. heat is also generated from rotation and vibration), softens the formation to make drilling easier and lubricates the well to ease 'casing running' (installing tubulars in drilled well).

The circulation system starts from 'mud pits' where mud is mixed (mud has different ingredients and chemicals to behave according to a DE's design in terms of viscosity, weight, gel strength and others). Mud is pumped using big pumps called mud pumps (wow what a technical term) and circulated up the derrick (in the stand pipe), down the top drive, into the ID (inner diameter) of the drill pipe, out the bit, up the annulus, back to the pits.

KMC or Kota Mineral Chemicals is one of the best local companies providing this product. The company is owned by Scomi and is now known as Scomi OilTools. The other big mud company is MI Swaco. MI is partly owned by Schlumberger and Smith International.

Career Talk at SBPI Gombak

I was invited recently to give a talk about the oil & gas industry at Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Integrasi Gombak. It's a coed boarding school situated near Internatinal Islamic University. To my surprise, the school made a lot of preparation for my talk and I did not expect a crowd of 600 to be attending! The participants were students from Forms 1 through 5.

It was satisfying for me as I hope students would now have a better view about the industry and for those who are not inclined to take petroleum engineering, at least they could start thinking about their interest from now.

We talked about the upstream and downstream business, the different engineering disciplines in the business. I've also touched about tertiary education, securing sponsorship and how to further their studies in the US, if they're interested.

Our next career talk series would be at my alma mater, the Royal Military College, on 29th June.