Most middle eastern NOCs hire expats as permanent staff (in my case it's called Indefinite Term). Some prefer contract because they get the money upfront so basically in any case you need to do your financials before accepting the job. If the company is offering 80K a month for a 2 year contract, I may not take it because it's too short and I have a lot of commitment but if they offer 120K a month for 2 years then we can talk ....

Some of my colleagues have returned to Malaysia and the salary they are getting are close in terms of gross salary as compared to the one they were getting in my company. The problem most of us have is the education assistance that the company gives for our children. Once you start using the assistance (for boarding school), then it is very hard to leave as no other company in Malaysia can match the amount. I know because I have rejected Petrofac and Shell due to this reason.

Once my kids go to college, then I will most likely return to Malaysia. A friend returned and his pay package from a Malaysian Operator was close to 700K annually which is what most company are willing to pay for some of us to return to Malaysia.

Insyaallah kalau panjang umur I will return.

Some of the new ex-Petronas hire is on 6-7 years experience so not too long. When I joined, yes the 10 year cut-off is required but now since most of us Malaysians here canc arry our weight, the company has really lowered the requirement.

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Added on November 21, 2012, 12:22 pm

Both fields are okay if you want to join but I would suppose that mechanical engineering will be a bit more relevant to the O&G industry especially the upstream side (where a lot of activities are going on). Chemical engineering is also good but then again, most people when they hear CHem E, then they immediately focused on placing you on the downstream side of the business like Penapisan/Refinery PetroChem etc. So if you are aiming for the Upstream side of the business, then ME is probably a better choice

BUT, if you do Chem E, there is a chance you can be a Reservoir Engineer because I have known a lot of Chem E grads who became Reservoirn Engineers because RE deals with a lot of Chemical Engineering work as well ..... some sort of overlap exists between the two.

As for starting from a fresh grad, well it's obviously tough so you need patience and also some bit of luck. Do not underestimate the importance of networking. If you know of a conference like PGC&E (Petroleum Geology Conference & Exhibition )etc etc, go as a student delegate and talk to the players manning the booth and probably drop a business card (make your own business card lah). If you hear of any SPE conference, drop by and do the same. Collect also their business cards and a semester before you graduate strat sending those CVs to the people you've collected their business cards from. Jangan malu malu because if you don't go for it, you'll never get it (same applies for trying to get woman of course .... but I'm digressing).

Good Luck.

Nice advice. A lot of my friend here also started as a mudlogger and they are now successful Geologist.

As for the Uni 

Finish your degree first (since you most probably haven't done so) then start applying for jobs. If you haven't started applying, then cut the crap.

I am an example of a non-bumiputera and non-scholar who is working with Petronas (without applying any cable).

Part of the package offered but once you take the education assistance, you will be stuck with the company for the remainder of your children's education. Now, if a company in Malaysia is willing to cover some of the expenses, we can sit down and discuss.

Passport Malaysia so no expat package .... I've told a lot of companies that if that is the case then they can shove it up their fanny. They spend millions bringing expats to Malaysia but when it comes to local Malaysians, well you just have to send your kids to normal school lah .... screw that.

Contracts ada la offer from 80-120K a month but it will be short term etc and will not be conducive for the family.

This applies for those who have been released, for those who has been given position and still decides to break the bond, the lump sum payment is not pretty. I was part of the initiative who changed the policies with regards to those who break the bond. If you cannot honor the bond, be prepared to have a housing loan without the corresponding property under your name. The thinking is that the scholarship could've been better spent on someone who would honor the bond so therefore there is opportunity costs as well for Petronas.

This is what my Petroleum Engineer friends say ....

One of the easiest engineering discipline to major in .... BUT

One of the highest in demand by the industry

So don't woryy and enjoy your study in the USA (don't enjoy it too much and screw up .... because you still need to get a good CGPA for all those O&G companies to hire you)

This is what my Petroleum Engineer friends say ....

One of the easiest engineering discipline to major in .... BUT

One of the highest in demand by the industry

So don't woryy and enjoy your study in the USA (don't enjoy it too much and screw up .... because you still need to get a good CGPA for all those O&G companies to hire you)

US uni now very expensive la ..... are you going using FAMA scholarship (i.e. Father & Mother) or some sort of JPA/Petronas loans? If you cannot afford it, I would recommend doing Petroleum Engineering in UTM Skudai.

Wow some strong opinion there young padawan.

So what I can understand from your rant is that, you despise Petronas for giving you the opportunity to study in UTP (I assume) and for allowing your parents to not worry about paying the tuition fees and your living allowances and in the end when you realised that the industry you're getting into is such a competitive industry where some companies are willing to pay such good salary for fresh grad, you felt entrapped by the bond that you signed. You despise Petronas for giving you the opportunity to be in the industry but not paying you what you "deserved".

So tell me, what makes you so "special" that Petronas (a company of 50 thousand staff) must bend over backwards for you? Did you discover the Kikeh field (a colleague of mine did when he was in Murphy) when you were in University? Did you come up with a process in your final year thesis that saved the industry billion of ringgits that you term yourself deserving of a higher salary to justify why you think the bond that you committed to when you passed your SPM with flying colors are nothing more than toilet paper?

So a Dato' told your family that don't worry, if Petronas gives you a scholarship/loan, that means you will get a job with them (and from what I read in your rant, that's exactly what happened), and that's Petronas fault for giving you a job in the end?

And finally because you're pissed with Petronas and pissed with me for pointing this out that a contract is a contract is a contract, you signed up with LYN and took a handle supposedly to spit me in the eye saying that hey, I left Petronas so I shouldn't be a hypocrite and tell others to stay ....

Open up a dictionary first and look up the definition of hypocrisy before taking that kind of handle. It's beyond pathetic. The issue or the principle I was talking about is that you signed a contract with Petronas whereby you will be bonded with the company for an X amount of years and in return, Petronas will pay for your tuition, your living allowance and book fees thus giving you the opportunity to study in one of the top university.

It is a simple contract, so if you are not willing to pay back the amount that Petronas has spent on you, then serve the bond. You are given a job with Petronas, where you are paid RM4,000 a month (ask myhug or preakzz how much they are getting after close to 18 months trying to get into this industry) and you say that this RM4000 (increasing to RM5,000, a 25% increment after the first year) is not what you deserved? Read back your rant and see why I cannot see the feeble justification you're giving me about why you're being treated like a forced labor/slave.
not
If you think you deserved (that is your word, not mine) to be paid higher for some other reason you're not telling us, then by all means break the bond BUT what I am saying is, pay up the amount that Petronas has spent on you. It is that simple. But of course you are not willing to pay the amount, because at the end of the day, you all this while, believed that you "deserved" that scholarship/loan and you deserved to be able to work with the highest bidder and you couldn't care less about the amount that Petronas has spent on you.

The definition of hypocrisy is telling others to do what you yourself didn't do. Serving the bond and leaving the company are 2 different  things. I was bonded for 10 years eventhough I finished my degree a semester early (so in simple math it should have been a 9 year bond), I was NOT given a position in Petronas within the first 5 months of my return and managed to secure a position with ExxonMobil which at the time was paying almost 40% higher than what Petronas was paying at the time. 2 weeks before I can request for a released from my Scholarship, Petronas got wind of my job offer with ExxonMobil and immediately offered me a position. A contract is a contract is a contract.

I spent the next 10 years working in Petronas and I SERVED MY BOND. I left after my 10 years is up. I left the company having SERVED MY BOND.

There is no contract saying that if Petronas trained me, sent me to attend courses, then they have a right to hold me to a bond. So don't play that game with me.

I never said that you or any of the scholars should stay in Petronas, my main argument is that you have a bond to served, either serve it or pay the amount Petronas has spent on you. Simple.

Here is the link : http://www.pakdi.net/sapurakencana-petrole...-menang-pru-13/

That's completely stupid move by Anwar. He's trying to win people heart by making such statement

Firstly, you can't simply end the contract just like that because you have power. That shows you are abusing the power. You are not yet in power but have already made a statement that you are going to abuse your power... so what difference does it make between you and current ruling government that you have been accusing all the time about power abuse ?

On what basis you want to terminate the contract ? Purely because the owner is Mahathir's son ?

If SapuraKencana doesn't have the capability, then it's understandable. But they do have the capability.

Now, let's talk about cronyism...

As much as I don't support cronyism, this one thing is damn hard to eliminate, mainly because it's in our nature to favor our friends or family members.

And Anwar to cure cronyism ? I will laugh hard at that... just rhetoric ... fix your own PKR party first, look at the high committee members ? Who are they ? 

And to be fair to both sides, I will say this to the current ruling government - stop the f**king corruption ! sack that Taib guy, he has been robbing sarawak for yearssssssssss

AutoCAD and SolidWorks will serve you well most of the time regardless of industry.

The RMS (Roxar Suite) is generally only useful if you have the foundation or the training to use it. Might I suggest Schlumberger NEXT, they have a lot of training classes available and will give you exposure to ECLIPSE (something like RMS/Tempest). Very expensive, but very respected, they also have intro classes to geophysics and black oil simulation. Reminder, 1 week of classes costs around 4.5k USD.

CFD is generally only covered if you're an instrumentation or piping engineer for OnG. For mechanical engineers if you want to get into the petroleum or black side of things, the best is to start as a production or field engineer. Do it for 2 to 4 years, then get your company to pay for a Masters in petroleum and then move on to reservoir engineering and geophysics.

If you want to be a OnG drilling engineer or mud engineer, my advice is to get your IWCF/IADC BOP Supervisor certification. It is around 3k USD for a 5 day course and lasts 2 years. You should also be fairly healthy and body tough. Start out as a leasehand or righand, move on to assistant driller and then tourpusher/head driller.

If you want to go straight into geophysics ASAP, then start out as LWD, MWD, coring or any other form of logging/geo interpretation. After 2 years they'll start getting you on the modeling tools.

It is a big industry. Tons of ways to go.

Well, a gym membership and some protein powder will fix it up pretty quick. As long as you aren't a sotong it'll be ok lorh.

Yes, you'll be at a disadvantage if you don't have the body for field work. Usually the boss will chose the fit one for field work and the less fit one to duduk opis.

haha..funny question..not necessary tough and have a strong bodies unless you are working as a rigger or helper.If you fit and dont have any medical problem should be able to work on this field.