Petrol Malaysia

What are the differences? In the oil and gas industry, there are various sectors which may be conveniently be described as upstream, midstream, and downstream.  "Upstream" refers to the exploration and production of oil. "Midstream" refers to the transporting, processing, and storing of oil. "Downstream" refers to the manufacturing, refining, petro-chemicals, marketing, and retailing of oil. This is how the upstream river looks like.

The SCMP Report from 2012 In September 2012, the South China Morning Post reported on Malaysia's oil and gas industry. The report highlighted Malaysia's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. It called the ETP the embodiment of "Malaysia's aspirations for an integrated oil and gas industry in Asia", a long-term plan requiring investments of USD100 billion from the private sector. The Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, was quoted saying, "The government will develop Malaysia into a leading oil and gas services hub in Asia, grow Malaysia's role in oil storage, logistics and trading and import LNG [liquefied natural gas] to serve latent gas demand and attract new gas-based industries." Further from the SCMP Report: Large crude oil and fuel cargoes from the Middle East have to be split into smaller cargo deliveries within the region. At the same time, regional producers need a terminal to a...

And It's A Law! Did you know that petrol stations must have sufficient fuel? If they run out of fuel supply, they must order more. This may not be a big thing in Kuala Lumpur, but imagine what happens in the more remote areas of the country! The scenario goes like this: Petrol prices are falling (they have been falling for a few months), and it's the last day of the month, maybe half a day to the next month. The petrol station owner is sorely tempted not  to refill his station because he knows, if he orders fuel today, and fills his tanks, within 12 hours the oil in the storage tanks would be worth less than he paid for them. Because oil prices are falling, whatever he pays for oil today is more than what he would pay tomorrow (i.e. the next month). So should the petrol station refill? In Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley in general (including Petaling Jaya), it might not be an issue. Just drive ten minutes and voila! There's another petrol station. But let's im...

Dear Reader, Congratulations if you have decided to visit this blog once again. It's been a busy few months for me and I have had very little time to update this blog. In fact, if there are volunteers who wish to take over this blog, I would like to hear from you. I'll transfer the domain name to you and the hosting is taken care of by Blogger.com (fully owned by Google) so there will be no hiccups with hosting. Some of you may have wanted to write your own blogs before; but you have wondered how to do it. The suggestions that I have is to always try to name your sources. If you come to your own conclusions, say so. There is no need to be a magician and put words into other people's mouths. :) Peak Oil and Dinosaurs Petrol and fuels will continue to dominate the headlines from time to time. Petrol is a finite resource; the words "peak oil" refer to a time where oil has been fully mined. When we were little children, we were told that crude oil was formed fro...

Dear Reader, Today's post is more a bit of trivia about an oft-sighted object: The Petrol Bomb, Also Known As The Molotov Cocktail. Introduction: Vyacheslav Molotov The name "Molotov" refers to Vyacheslav Molotov , the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from December 1930 to May 1941. He was a protege of Joseph Stalin and one of the participants in the Great Terror of 1936-1938 , in which Joseph Stalin killed more than one million people. [Interested readers can read more about the executions at ExecutedToday.com, 15th March 2008. 1938: Seventeen former Bolshevik officials from the Trial of the 21 ) It is said that Stalin had also managed to seduce away one of Molotov's girlfriends. (Ref: Daily Mail UK, 11th May 2007. Stalin and his lover aged 13. )] Curious readers can view pictures of Vyacheslav Molotov at the following links: RT.com (previously Russia Today), Russiapedia entry on Vyacheslav Molotov . Accessed 3rd April 2010. New York Sun,...

The much touted upheaval in the fuel price will not come to pass. The Government has announced that the controversial plan to implement tiered fuel pricing via MyKad identification, will be shelved. (Source: The Sun, 24th Feb 2010. No go for tiered pricing .) Fuel subsidies will continue for the meantime. The plan was called off due to the logistics horror that would ensue from having 15 million people queue up at the National Registration Department, simply to enable their identification cards as a means of identifying whether they qualify for subsidised fuel. The system, which would have been known as ePetrol, was detailed in a report by the Star dated 26th May 2008. (Ref: The Star, 26th May 2008. How ePetrol system works .) (Update) The Malaysian Insider reported that the Government pulled the plug on the plan after complaints from consumers and petrol dealers, who worried about long queues at petrol stations. Despite that, an unnamed industry insider was quoted saying, ".....

Dear Reader, How many of you out there knew that styrofoam is a petroleum-derived product? I'll be honest: I didn't. But most of us who use consumer electronics would know what styrofoam is: it's that spongy, white, substance, formed into small globes, and further compressed together to form protective layers in packaging consumer electronics. It certainly helps reduce the damage to the electronic item in question, for example whenever there is a bump or the box falls on the ground. What is Styrofoam? From Wikipedia, we learn that styrofoam can refer to two things: Extruded polystyrene foam . In fact, the word " Styrofoam " was first used as a trademark by the Dow Chemical Company for extruded foamed polystyrene, used in thermal insulation and craft applications. Foamed polystyrene is moisture resistant and is used in building materials. Expanded polystyrene foam , in which case "styrofoam" has become a generic word to refer to moulded packaging ...

First off, this particular post has nothing to do with Malaysia. It has everything to do with events in a foreign land. Having said that, the question becomes, what is the "Royalty In Kind" programme? Why does it attract any attention at all? The country in question is the United States of America, and we pay attention because it involves scandals with regards to petrol companies. On 18th September 2009, The New Republic, an online news portal , blogged about the "Royalty In Kind" programme. Here is an excerpt: On Wednesday, the Interior Department finally terminated a program few people had ever heard of: the royalty-in-kind (RIK) system, which allowed oil and gas companies to drill in public lands and pay the government in oil, rather than cash. Over the past decade, the program, run out of an office in suburban Denver, had allowed companies to underpay the government by $10 million. But that's not why it was shut down--the tale goes well beyond ordinary...

In an earlier post , we looked at how filling a metal container on a vehicle (e.g. a truck) can lead to a build up of static electricity. The static electricity cannot be discharged when it is on the vehicle. As a result, a build up of static of electricity ensues. When another element is nearby, the static electricity build up may become discharged. It is common in the discharge of static electricity that a spark is formed. When a spark is in the vicinity of petrol vapours, the petrol vapours may become ignited. Static electricity is an everyday occurrence. To understand the phenomena of static electricity, one should understand that atoms, the basic building blocks of the universe, are composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons are positively charged, and sit in the center of the atom with the neutrons, forming what is known as the "nucleus". Electrons orbit the nucleus. Electrons are negatively charged. When two objects come into contact, electrons may move fr...