28 pekerja loji terkena sukatan radiasi yang tinggi

Jepun memberitahu agensi nuklear Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) hari ini seramai 28 pekerja nuklear menerima sukatan radiasi tinggi ketika mereka berusaha menstabilkan loji nuklear Fukushima Daiichi.

Menurut Agensi Tenaga Atom Antarabang sa (IAEA), daripada 300 orang yang berada di kawasan loji yang rosak akibat gempa bumi dan tsunami sebulan yang lalu, 28 orang menerima lebih 100 millisievert (mSv) radiasi.

Purata biasa sukatan yang diterima pekerja loji tenaga nuklear ialah 50 mSv dalam tempoh lima tahun ini. - Reuters

Govt to set up firm to promote oil and gas sector

The Government will soon establish the Malaysia Petroleum Resource Corp (MPRC) to spur the development of the country’s oil and gas sector.

MPRC interim chief executive officer Dr Shahreen Madros said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would announce details of the agency soon.

“We are looking at human capital requirement, marketing portion and how we can promote the industry further,” he told reporters.

He added that MPRC, a proposal by Performance Management and Delivery Unit, would be stationed under the Malaysian Investment Development Authority.

Meanwhile, at the forum, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) exploration & production business executive vice-president Datuk Wee Yiaw Hin said the era of easy oil and gas business in Malaysia was over.

“In order for Petronas to sustain the oil production (around 600,000 barrel per day), it has to get more from the existing fields and unlocking the stranded resources,” he said.

He added that Petronas was currently undertaking aggressive efforts and developing innovative solution to drive the reserve growth.

Wee said in its effort to drive more oil output, Petronas needed to bring in global technology and capability.

“As we are now embarking into deep water sector, we are bringing experts to the field for exploration services as they have technology capabilities that can be used to assist us,” he said citing companies like Shlumberger and Technip who have the expertise to assist the group.

He said apart from getting assistant from the international experts, the local oil and gas players would also gain from working together with them to grow their capabilities.

Another forum’s panelist, Sapura Group president & chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Shamsuddin said local oil and gas players needed to be competent to win oil and gas projects due to very stiff competition .

“We at Sapura have to established ourselves first for our expertise and capabilities before embarking for project tenders. We need to have the capabilities first before opportunity come,” he said. - The Star

Petronas keen to shed stake

Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas explorer, is reportedly looking to sell its 14.91 per cent stake in Cairn India and exit the company.

The market has been abuzz with talks of Petronas’ exit from Cairn India even as market regulator Sebi has cleared the open offer from Sesa Goa — a Vedanta group entity — which will commence on April 11. Sesa is offering to buy the shares from Cairn India’s minority shareholders at Rs 335 per share.

The Malaysian state-owned company now holds over 28.34 crore shares in Cairn India which were acquired in different stages. This shareholding is held via Petronas International Corporation Ltd.

Petronas first acquired a little under 10 per cent in Cairn India through a pre-IPO placement in 2006.

Later in 2008, Petronas bought 6.33 crore shares of Cairn India at a price of Rs 224.30 apiece through a private placement, taking its stake in the latter to 12.7 per cent.

In the following year, the Malaysian oil major bought additional 4.36 crore shares from Cairn UK Holdings Ltd, the parent of Cairn India, taking its total holding to just under 15 per cent.

The buzz in the market is that the Malaysian company may not tender its shares in the open offer where the price is at a discount to the current market price.

Instead it is believed that Petronas may sell its stake in the open market to institutional investors. This, however, could not be confirmed from Petronas.

Talks that Petronas may exit Cairn India have been rife since last year when Vedanta Resources and Cairn Plc announced the $9.6-billion deal that will give Anil Agarwal of the Vedanta group a majority stake in Cairn India.

The talk that Petronas may sell its stake impacted the Cairn India stock that declined 3.87 per cent, or Rs 14.15, to end at Rs 351.10. Thus, at the current market price, the total stake held by Petronas is valued at Rs 9,950 crore. Petronas had to shell out a little over $1 billion to acquire this stake in Cairn India.

In a filing with the stock exchanges today, Sesa Goa said: “The acquisition of 51-60 per cent of Cairn India by the Vedanta group remains conditional on receipt of the Government of India’s consent.” - http://www.telegraphindia.com

Alam Maritim up on vessel contracts

ALAM MARITIM RESOURCES BHD shares rose in early trade on Thursday, April 14 after its unit secured RM24.24 million contracts to supply two vessels to an independent oil and gas exploration and production company.

At 9.05am, Alam was up six sen to RM1.07 with 878,600 shares traded.

Its unit Alam Maritim (M) Sdn Bhd would provide one anchor handling tug supply vessel and one fast multipurpose supply vessel.

MB Pahang batal program taklimat Lynas

Menteri Besar Pahang, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob membatalkan semua siri taklimat awam mengenai pembinaan kilang Lynas Corporation yang memproses "rare earth" (nadir bumi) di Gebeng, bermula malam tadi (12 April).

Sebelum ini, dua siri daripada 8 siri penerangan berkaitan isu kontroversi itu telah diadakan di Kompleks Dagangan Indera Mahkota dan di Duta Village Hotel, Sungai Karang minggu lalu anjuran kerajaan negeri.

Menurut Ketua Pemuda PAS Pahang, Suhaimi Saad, pembatalan program yang sepatutnya berlangsung malam tadi dan malam ini tanpa diketahui sebabnya akan lebih mengusutkan keadaan.

“Sudah dua siri penerangan kerajaan negeri berkaitan kilang Lynas di Gebeng, tetapi Menteri Besar atau Exco dan wakil Lynas tak pernah hadir, yang ada hanya wakil daripada Lembaga Perlesenan Tenaga Atom, Nuklear Malaysia dan Jabatan Alam Sekitar.

“Akibatnya banyak soalan yang diutarakan tidak dapat dijawap dan diberi alasan bukan bidang kuasa mereka, ini menyebabkan ramai penduduk Kuantan yang datang kecewa dan menimbulkan tidak puas hati sehingga timbul sedikit ketegangan.

(Gambar: Jadual asal penerangan isu Lynas)

“Tetapi apabila MB sendiri membatalkan terus enam lagi sessi taklimat yang dianjurkan kerajaan sendiri, keadaan ini akan lebih mengecewakan penduduk Kuantan yang berada dalam kebimbangan,“ katanya kepada Harakahdaily.

Lynas Corporation Ltd (Lynas) merupakan syarikat milik penuh Australia yang memproses ‘rare earth’ bagi tujuan industri. Bahan tersebut dipunggah dari Australia manakala sisa pemprosesan iaitu bahan buangan thorium yang dikatakan mengandungi bahan radioaktif yang berbahaya kepada manusia dan alam.

Mengikut kelulusan yang diberikan oleh Kerajaan Negeri Pahang, syarikat berkenaan mula beroperasi September ini.

Lynas dianugerahkan oleh Kementerian Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri dengan ‘Strategic Pioneer Status’ iaitu syarikat berkenaan – tidak perlu membayar cukai import atau export selama 12 tahun.

Menurut Suhaimi, pada ketika ini, penduduk Kuantan sedang berusaha keras mendesak pembatalan operasi kilang berkenaan kerana mereka bimbang kesan radiasi daripada sisa buangan berkenaan boleh menimbulakan kesan negatif seperti barah bayi lahir cacat dan abnormal sehingga berlarutan memakan masa begitu lama.

“Pelbagai cara bantahan telah dibuat penduduk antaranya berdemonstrasi di parlimen dan setiap kali lepas Sembahyang Jumaat di Masjid Balok. Tandatangan penduduk juga diambil dan sehingga kini sudah lebih 50,000 tandatangan dikutip,” ujarnya.

Sebelum ini, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob menyatakan, sebelum meluluskan tapak pembinaan kilang tersebut, pihaknya telah mendapat penjelasan dan pandangan daripada Lembaga Perlesenan Tenaga Atom (LPTA) dan pakar tenaga atom mengenai tahap keselamatan penduduk terhadap kesan radioaktif atau radiasi dari kilang tersebut.

Siri penerangan yang dianjurkan oleh kerajaan negeri itu bertujuan untuk meyakinkan penduduk Kuantan.

“Pada saya sesi penerangan dan taklimat awam yang dianjurkan hanya setakat silap mata untuk menghalalkan projek yang menjadi kemarahan rakyat. Penerangan yang tidak telus tidak meredakan gundah gelana rakyat yang sangat bimbang dengan projek yang boleh memudaratkan manusia dan alam sekitar itu,” tambah Suhaimi. - Harakahdaily

IEA warns oil price rally may lead to global slowdown

Sky-high oil prices are beginning to dent oil demand growth, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday adding prices could ultimately moderate through a global economic slowdown.

"Most analysts see a more formal OPEC policy response as unlikely... That leaves a less palatable route to price moderation -- namely economic slow-down and weaker demand growth," the agency said in its monthly report.

"There are real risks however that a sustained, US$100 per barrel plus price environment will prove incompatible with the currently expected pace of economic recovery," it added.

The agency said preliminary data for January and February suggested that high oil prices may have started to dent demand growth. It however kept its 2011 global oil demand growth forecast unchanged at 1.4 million barrels per day or 1.6 percent.

The IEA said tight global supply was its another major concern as the global oil output fell by around 0.7 million barrels per day in March to 88.27 million bpd due to civil war in Libya. OPEC crude supply fell by 0.88 million bpd alone.

"Hypothetically, if global supply were to chug along at March levels for the rest of 2011, OECD inventory could slip to near five-year lows by December," it said.

However, the IEA said it believed OPEC spare capacity stood at a comfortable level of 3.91 million BPD, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 3.2 million alone. – Reuters

Pearl GTL: the world's largest gas-to-liquids plant set for production

The world's largest plant to turn natural gas into cleaner-burning fuels and lubricants took a major step closer to production today when gas began flowing from a giant offshore field.

Pearl GTL will process around 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent over its lifetime from the world's largest single gas field, the North Field in the Arabian Gulf. The field stretches from Qatar’s coast and contains more than 900 trillion cubic feet of gas, equivalent to 150 billion barrels of oil, or over 10% of worldwide gas resources.*

The gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant — a joint development by Qatar Petroleum and Shell – will add almost 8% to Shell’s production worldwide — making it the company’s main engine for growth for 2012. It has a capacity of 260,000 barrels oil equivalent a day and is expected to ship its first product in 2011 and reach full production in 2012.

"We’re on the verge of starting up a project that will be a foundation for Shell’s future growth for decades to come," says Shell’s Country Chairman in Qatar, Andy Brown. "For Qatar it means another way to generate revenues from gas reserves, in addition to selling pipeline gas or liquefied natural gas. It diversifies the country’s revenue streams and provides long-term income."

The plant will produce cleaner-burning diesel and aviation fuel, oils for advanced lubricants, naphtha used to make plastics and paraffin for detergents. It will make enough diesel to fill over 160,000 cars a day and enough synthetic oil each year to make lubricants for more than 225 million cars. The products will reach customers in every major energy market through Shell’s global retail network.

In bringing Pearl to production, Shell engineers have built on more than 30 years of experience in gas-to-liquids technology. We built the world’s first commercial-scale GTL plant in Bintulu, Malaysia, in 1993. Pearl’s output of GTL products will be 10 times greater than Bintulu’s.

Safety Record

Building Shell’s biggest engineering project to date in Ras Laffan, a vast industrial zone on Qatar’s coast some 90 kilometres north of Doha, was a major feat. At the peak of construction, it involved more than 52,000 workers from over 50 nations.

Despite the massive number of workers involved and the complexity of Pearl’s construction, a strong safety culture helped Qatar and Shell achieve a record-breaking 77 million hours worked onshore without injuries leading to time off work.

Preparing for a Smooth Start-up

Getting the huge plant into full operation will take a series of carefully executed system start-ups. Pearl GTL’s control room — the nerve centre of one of the largest and most sophisticated plants ever built in the energy industry — has powered up.

The first turbines and auxiliary steam systems have begun to generate steam and electricity to power the plant. The first two oxygen separation units are up and running.

Drilling Record

Sixty kilometres offshore, natural gas from the North Field — discovered by Shell in 1971 — is now flowing from to two platforms standing in water up to 40 metres deep to feed Pearl GTL. Eleven wells were drilled for each platform in record drilling times for the field.

Two underwater 76–centimetre (30-inch) diameter pipelines are carrying the natural gas to a gas separation plant onshore that extracts natural gas liquids: ethane for industrial processes, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic heating and cooking and condensates as a feedstock for refineries. The separation process also removes contaminants like metals and sulphur. The sulphur is turned into pellets and shipped to the nearest market to make hydrosulphuric acid, fertiliser or other valuable products.

Turning Gas into Liquid Fuel

The pure gas, or methane, that remains will then flow to the GTL section of the plant, where it will be converted in a three-stage process into a range of gas-to-liquids products using Shell proprietary technology.

Finally, the liquid hydrocarbon wax is upgraded using specially developed technology involving new catalysts into the range of products. It takes some 2,000 steps to prepare all GTL systems for production.

In Qatar, summer temperatures exceed 40°C (104°F) and rainfall is slight. Conserving water is critical. Pearl was designed to be self-sufficient in its use of water.

Pearl, the largest investment by Shell in any single project, is a fully integrated project spanning production from an offshore gas field to finished marketable products. Shell is funding 100% of the development costs under a profit- sharing agreement with the state of Qatar.

SapuraCrest to invest US$1b in 3 years

SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd, a Malaysian oil and gas services provider, plans to invest US$1 billion in the next three years to boost capacity as it undertakes more projects at home and abroad, Vice Chairman Shahril Shamsuddin said in an interview.

The company is bidding for RM5 billion to RM8 billion worth of jobs, he said. It already has an RM8 billion order book for the next three years, Shahril said. -- Bloomberg

Nippon Steel may raise stake in Tatt Giap unit

Nippon Steel Corp, the world’s fourth largest steelmaker, says it intends to raise its stake in Tatt Giap Group Bhd subsidiary Nippon EGalv Steel Sdn Bhd, which manufactures electro-galvanised steel.

According to a Reuters report yesterday, Nippon Steel planned to increase its stake in Nippon EGalv to 50.1% from 10% for US$6.5 million (RM19.7 million) by end-June.

Nippon Steel was quoted saying that it planned to make Nippon EGalv its subsidiary to boost the supply of electro-galvanised steel sheet to Japanese electronics makers in Malaysia, given that its South Korean rival, the Pohang Iron and Steel Company (Posco) was also tapping into the market.

“We’ll better compete with rivals by making the Malaysian steelmaker our group company,” Nippon Steel marketing and strategy head Hideki Ogawa was quoted as saying.

Nippon Steel revealed that it would start producing 100,000 tonnes of fingerprint-free electro-galvanised steel sheet annually, to be used in flat-screen TV and audio products manufacturing in Malaysia.

Nippon EGalv was incorporated in 2008. In 2009, two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Hanwa Co Ltd, bought 10% and 15% equity interest in Nippon EGalv respectively. Tatt Giap holds a 67.2% stake in the unit after the share sale.

According to Reuters, competition for high-end sheet steel is increasing in Malaysia as Japanese manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer boosted output, while Posco was also starting production of electro-galvanised steel sheet to supply to locally operating Japanese and Korean consumer electronics manufacturers.

Currently, the domestic annual demand for 200,000 tonnes of fingerprint-free electro-galvanised steel sheets is met fully by imports.

Tatt Giap, which manufactures steel pipes and bars, floated its shares on Bursa Malaysia less than a year ago.

The group partnered with Nippon Metal Industry in 1997 to form Nippon Metal Services (M) Sdn Bhd to undertake stainless steel surface polishing and treatment.

For 4QFY10 ended Dec 31, the group made a net profit of RM981,000 while revenue was RM74.8 million. However, the group was loss-making for FY10 Dec 31, incurring a net loss of RM1.25 million or 1.86 sen per share. Annual revenue came in at RM315 million. - The Edge Daily

Petronas perkenal Primax 95 Xtra ganti RON 95

Petronas Dagangan Bhd. (PDB) hari ini melancarkan Primax 95 Xtra, minyak baru diinspirasikan oleh teknologi Formula Satu yang terbukti mampu memberi lebih kuasa serta kilometer bagi setiap liter.

Minyak baru itu bagi menggantikan RON 95 di 950 buah stesen minyak Petronas sedia ada.

Primax 95 Xtra akan dijual pada harga kawalan minyak RON 95 walaupun memiliki mutu dan prestasi yang lebih tinggi.

Primax 95 Xtra diperkenalkan hari ini bersempena dengan majlis pengumuman slogan terbaru jenama PDB iaitu 'All The Way' oleh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Pengarah Urusan dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif PDB, Amir Hamzah Azizan berkata, pelancaran Primax 95 Xtra membuktikan komitmen syarikat untuk terus melabur dalam membangunkan produk inovatif yang memenuhi serta menjangkau jangkaan pelanggan.

"Pelancaran Primax 95 Xtra hari ini menunjukkan betapa pentingnya kajian dan peningkatan yang berterusan terhadap barisan produk Primax dalam mengembangkan perniagaan runcit kami.

"Kami percaya pertumbuhan PDB bukan hanya terletak pada bilangan stesen minyak Petronas yang ada tetapi juga dari segi peningkatan mutu bahan api," katanya.

Turut hadir, Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Petronas, Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas.

Gabungan mantap bahan pembaik pembakaran dan pengubah geseran dalam Primax 95 Xtra memberi tindakan pembakaran yang cekap dan mengurangkan geseran dalaman untuk mencapai prestasi maksimum bagi setiap titik minyak yang dibakar.

Secara keseluruhannya, Primax 95 Xtra dengan pakej bahan penambah berbilang fungsi benar-benar terbukti dapat memberikan lebih kuasa, lebih pecutan dan lebih menjimatkan minyak berbanding minyak gasolin komersial yang biasa di Malaysia.

Pada majlis sama, Perdana Menteri menyampaikan sumbangan bernilai RM7.5 juta daripada anak syarikat Petronas, Kumpulan Syarikat LNG Malaysia kepada Duta Jepun di Malaysia, Masahiko Horie bagi membantu mangsa gempa bumi dan tsunami. - Utusan