Petrol Malaysia

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...

If you ever look at the warning plaque which is mounted on the wall, next to many petrol pumps, you would notice that there are warnings about: (a) mobile phones and electronic devices; (b) static electricity; (c) no smoking; (d) turning off the engine; (e) filling portable containers in the ground; and (f) not removing the nozzle if a fire starts. That last warning about a fire starting, should have been a clue as to why we need to heed these warnings. Here is a picture of an example warning plaque: There are some people who think that you should not re-enter the vehicle while filling up on petrol. Here is a video of one such incident where a woman re-entered her car while filling up (at 0:45). Observe how the pump caught fire when she touched it (at 1:03). In another incident, a Shell truck carrying petrol caught fire when one of its staff decided to illuminate a portion with his mobile phone. (Observe at 1:22) Both these videos are undated and can be found on YouTube, th...