Petroleum engineering lecturers engage with industrial training and courses

Miri – 8 June 2016 – Petroleum engineering lecturers have been very active in engaging themselves with oil and gas industry partners and the same time acquiring additional knowledge in the related field by attending short courses and industrial training for the benefits of students and university as a whole. The activities were in line with the university vision and mission, which is to be a recognized regional leader through innovation and excellence in teaching and research.

In the global oil and gas industry, demand for hydrocarbons is increasing rapidly with declining resources available onshore and at shallow water depths. This fact makes exploring new reservoirs in aggressive environments such as deep-water regions essential for future energy supply. The water depth and the challenging deep-water environment makes the traditional offshore platforms unsuitable. On 6-7 October 2015, Associate Professor Sharul Sham bin Dol, Head of Petroleum Engineering and Associate Professor William Downey, Head of Applied Geology attended 2 day short course in Kuala Lumpur on Floating Offshore Platforms: TLP, Spar, Semi-Sub, FPSO & FLN, which is organized by Advanced Technology & Innovation Centre (ATIC), Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. This course covered an overview of the various floating offshore platforms and its station keeping systems.

On 27-30 October 2015, Dr. Mohamed Ali, a Senior Lecturer in Petroleum Engineering department attended the Gastech Conference & Exhibition in Singapore, which is the leading event for the international oil & gas industry and a global meeting place for energy professionals working in the natural gas cycle. The commercial and technical programme provided opportunity for networking and excellent social functions to discuss on the continuing urgency for Gas and LNG demand in Asia and updates on changes, evolution and developments being witnessed by the Gas and LNG industries. Besides, Dr. Mohamed Ali also attended a short course on Fractional Flow Method organized by SPE in Kuala Lumpur. The objective of the course was to use the fractional flow concept in modelling enhanced oil recovery techniques. 

Dr. Raoof Gholami, a Senior Lecturer and Mr. Henry Elochukwu Okafor, an Associate Lecturer in the department have both attended the International Well Control Forum (IWCF) training for Rotary Drilling and Well Intervention courses respectively offered by Sarawak Shell Berhad in August-October 2015. The aims of this course were to train and certify drillers and supervisors. The programme integrates principles and practical approach needed to solve the difficult challenges of well control and well intervention especially in wireline and coil-tubing operations.  

On 11-12 November 2015, Associate Professor Sharul Sham bin Dol and Dr. Hisham Khaled, petroleum engineering Course Coordinator also attended training course on Drilling for Non-Driller at UMW-INSTEP Drilling Academy, an academy by collaboration between UMW Oil & Gas Corporation Sdn Bhd. and Institut Teknologi Petroleum PETRONAS (INSTEP) at Batu Rakit, Kuala Terengganu. The syllabus contents include Rig Equipment, Making Hole Land, Drilling Offshore Well, Drill Bits Design, Drill String Design, Casing Design, Cementing, Completion and Production & Workover. The 2-day course also covered 1/2 day practical on drilling operation; Make up Drill Pipe and Operation of Mud Pump & Mud Tank.

Recently, Mr. Mian Umer, an Associate Lecturer in the department participated in the Offshore Technology Conference Asia (OTC Asia) from 22-25 March 2016 in Kuala Lumpur. OTC Asia 2016, with the theme “Excellence in Asia”, provides the ideal platform for academics, industry and government to share knowledge and ideas on how to aspire the oil and gas industry to meet the growing energy demand especially during this economic downturn.

According to Associate Professor Sharul Sham, all of those activities attended by our academic staff show our commitment and effort on advancing partnerships to bring out best practice for developing human capital in oil and gas sector. We hope Curtin University Sarawak will be recognized as the regional leader for petroleum engineering education and training provider for years to come, Dr. Sharul added. The statement is echoed by Dr. Hisham Khaled who signifies the importance of lecturers’ profiles and skills in order to develop links between education provision and the current needs of the oil and gas industry.

Dr. Sharul Sham and Dr. Hisham Khaled at the Drilling For Non-Driller Course

Practical on Drilling Operation at the land-rig

Dr. Sharul Sham and Dr. William Downey at the Floating Offshore Platform Course