No problem. Glad to be of help. I'm pretty sure part of the JD will involve doing some economic analysis as well (sinking cost, hurdle rate, IRR etc etc) and that is probably why they are looking at getting some experienced personnel from the Banking industry to have a go at it as well. Petroleum economics is slightly different (especially i you are dealing with Gas) so you might want to have a read on Petroleum Economics as well.

Upstream.

Nope not from HR. I was in the Management unit before in PETRONAS so I had to go through the entire life-cycle with the operator for every field in Malaysia. All the PSC Operators had to present the plans to us before they can proceed so we will start asking them about the economics, the production rate, what's the estimated plateau and all sort of stuff. I'm a geologist actually but I love being able to go into the entire cycle.

Correct.

I would not know the exact detail but PMU was working with coming up on a proposal for developing the acid gas field (which is basically gas field that has a high concentration of CO2, H2S and other contaminants). The big 15 billion dollar project in the JDA is probably the main target. Project management is basically that, you will probably be responsible for making sure that the operators are following the proper schedule, within the agreed costs and all those things that come with PM jobs

PMU is the Division in PETRONAS group that is responsible for approving ALL development plans by the Operators. PMU is like the Ministry of Oil (since Malaysia does not have one) and they monitor/cover ALL the operators in Malaysia. PCSB is an operator similar to ExxonMobil/Shell/Talisman etc so they too have to present their work and get the approval from PMU.

Good Luck. I'm not privy to how the interview session goes with CHess. My headhunter is also pushing me to go to CHess but we'll see. I would recommend you read-up on the Oil industry in Malaysia (probably have some articles in the inetrenet) or maybe if you have the time look-up for Datuk Paddy Bowie's Book on Petronas - A Vision realized (I think) (thoughI'm not sure if it's relevant to your interview)

Have an idea about Petroleum Economics and also how the Gas Market works in Malaysia which is probably relevant since that's the concentration of what CHess operation is on.

Good Luck!

You're most welcome. Good Luck!

Previously the so called benefits was one of the reasons HR was very reluctant to make the salary competitive. I was in a task force that mentioned that this "invisible" benefits was doing more harm than good. It is better if you raise the salary scheme (especially for the technical people) by 40-50% and let them decide on what benefits they want. I mean car loans in Petronas was at 4% revolving interest (which is equivalent to 2% fixed rate on the amount of loan Petronas was giving out) and the market outside was giving around 2.2% fixed rate ... what do you like better, a 30% increase in salary or getting the car loans internally ...

Same goes with the housing loan, yes the rate is a bit higher outside, but if your salary is high enough, not only will it allow the company to retain good skilled people but it will attract people from the outside to join as well.

Took them 5 years to implement ... by that time, I was gone (fed-up to see that nothing was being done .... not until my initiative leader became the President/CEO of Petronas) ...

Anyway, I still say that working in Petronas is a lot of fun and I would not hesitate to return there (maybe when the kids have gone to college) to "berbakti" to the nation again I guess.

Minimum 8k I would say. I would not say that you don't have experience, since you have 8 years in the banking line which is relevant in the position. Since this is CHess and not Petronas, you should actually be able to ask for higher pay as the company should not be following the Petronas pay scale. Maybe 10k perhaps?

Good luck. Yes, CHess as one of the operators hsould have a good training program and knowing your background you should be able to get a grasp on all the terminalogy and the system real fast.

As for salary, as I said before, it's a personal thing. I just received an offer for RM70K (and my wife still think that it's not so good .. sheesh) but a 10-12K offer for you may be satisfactory. What I always say is that think about the future potential and go from there.

Exactly. I bet you after 5 years working as a planner, your market value will increase a couple of fold (maybe looking at 20-25K a month) as the O&G industry is always in need of people with skill like yours by then.

Apologies, my knowledge is rather limited with regards to the subsea equipments. All I know is that there are subsea flow meters etc and not much about te industry behind it. I'm a geologist by background so I'm more of the upstream (reservoir stuff etc).

Maybe some other members can assist you in this aspect.

No problem, happy to help and share knowledge in areas I have some experience in.

The test is usually associated if you went for an interview with PETRONAS, Carigali Hess is a completely different company than PETRONAS (Though Carigali is part of the PETRONAS Group) so that is one of the reason I think you didn't have any test during your interview.

As for reading material, go for Petroleum Economics books (maybe from the net or from Kinokuniya if they have it), a little bit of fundamental of Petroleum Engineering (no need to read-up on the scientific stuff) maybe understand about the production forecast and production profile (production decline etc) and Risk Management/Analysis in the Petroelum Industry.

The books obviously are expensive. Have a look at http://store.spe.org/ and there are several books on decision making in the Oil and gas industries etc. Planners are usually associated with Petroleum Engineering so once you're in the planner line of work, you'll most likely be joinig the SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers). The society has tons of materials that you can buy (papers/publication etc). I'm with a company that has unlimited download of SPE Papers . Go to OnePetro.org and do a search on any title that may be relevant to you. PM me the SPE paper number and I'll download it and pass it to you if you are interested.

Don't worry, I'm a geologist and I am a member of SPE as well. They don't require you to be an engineer to be a member but they do require you to either be a student doing something related to the O&G or be working in the O&G company (that's just a guess and I might be wrong).

Do not worry about your background, once you secure the position as a planner and once you know how everything works in the division/dept, no one will ask what your background is. One of the best reservoir simulation engineer who wrote basically the bible on reservoir simulation has a background in Chemical Engineering, one of the best Petrophysicist that I know has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering before he went and became a petrophysicist .... the industry is such that we require people who are willing to learn and gain experience on-hand. Once you work there for 4-5 years, you'd be surprise that maybe you will have an opportunity to do a Masters degree in Petroleum Economics etc ... who knows right?

Anyway, here's hoping that you get the position that they interviewed you for.

Azman,

Got your Pm and have replied to it. As mentioned in my PM, it all depends on the position you are after, if you are in the Tier 1 group, then obviously you should be asking a higher monthly salary. Any new employer will give you a 30% increase from what you are currently earning now so that would be a safe minimum to ask.

I don't believe they will hold you to the numbers you mentioned in the chit-chat.

Good Luck Azman and Insyaallah berjaya!

Petrochemicals maybe?

PCSB is involved in the upstream side of the business and RAPID down in Johor is more towards the downstream side (Petrochemical etc etc). Basically RAPID is the Gebeng/Kerteh of Johor.

I think your background is more suited towards the upstream facilities side. They have a department that is full of facilities engineers (mechanical engineering background) that are responsible for the designs of all the upstream facilities etc.

Why don't you follow up with them? Given that Petronas is very slow sometimes but it doesn't hurt to ask them about your status.

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Added on November 16, 2011, 1:08 pmPETRONAS no longer has an IT department (unless it's in the functional line such as those working as Linux Administrators for the Oracle/OpenWorks Geoframe Database). All IT positions are now with iPerintis.

This post has been edited by azraeil: Nov 16 2011, 01:08 PM