Curtin Malaysia and Sarawak Shell hold petroleum field development planning seminar for students

Miri – 17 August 2018 – The Petroleum Engineering Department of the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) collaborated with Sarawak Shell Berhad to conduct a technical seminar on petroleum field development planning (FDP) for petroleum engineering students of the university recently.

The seminar was facilitated by Sarawak Shell reservoir engineer Abel Tan, a 13-year veteran in the oil and gas industry with extensive experience in oil and gas field studies, reserves reporting, field and reservoir management, gas planning and forecasting, drilling and well testing. He has been

Tan, who has been involved in FDP projects in the Sabah oil fields as well the Central Luconia gas fields in Sarawak, highlighted the industrial applications of some of FDP concepts the students have learnt in their course. He also emphasised the purpose and importance of FDP, the role of FDP teams, and the need to carry out operations in a safe and profitable manner.

“FDP teams have to prepare timeline schedules with clear job responsibilities for each team member and conduct regular team meetings to assess project progress,” Tan stressed.

At end of the seminar, Head of the Petroleum Engineering Department Dr. Hisham Khaled Ben Mahmud presented a token of appreciation to Tan for facilitating the seminar and for his ongoing support towards petroleum engineering studies and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) student chapter at the university.

Dr. Hisham said such these technical seminars are conducted often in collaboration with partners in the oil and gas industry, as well as other industries, so that the students can gain valuable insights into industry practices and connect what they learn in the classroom to real world applications.

Petroleum Field Development Planning is a compulsory unit for final-year students of Curtin’s Bachelor of Engineering (Petroleum Engineering) (Honours) course where the students learn to integrate and apply knowledge to work in a team, think about uncertainties in their work, simulate the working world, and practice their writing and presentation skills in various projects.

According to Dr. Hisham, the 4-year Bachelor of Engineering (Petroleum Engineering) involves both classroom and practical learning. Lectures are accompanied by practical study in fluid and reservoir rock laboratories, geodynamic lab work and field trips to both service company offices and drilling sites.

The course is taught by an international teaching staff with extensive industrial experience and strong industry links, including visiting academics from the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin’s main campus in Perth, Australia. Courses and degrees at Curtin Malaysia is identical in all aspects to those offered at the main campus.

“With the recovery of the oil and gas industry worldwide, we are seeing continued growth in enrolments for the petroleum engineering course. It has always been a very popular course as the petroleum engineering field offers one of the highest salary rates and our graduates are immediately employable in the industry upon graduation. In fact, most of our students find employment even before graduation,” said Dr. Hisham.

He added that the course is recognised by both Engineers Australia (EA) and the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), as well as the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). Petroleum engineering students at Curtin Malaysia have the benefit of extensive industry exposure due to the campus’ location in Sarawak’s oil and gas hub.

For more information on the Bachelor of Engineering in Petroleum Engineering (Honours), visit courses.curtin.edu.my.

Sarawak Shell reservoir engineer Abel Tan giving lecture.

Dr Hisham (centre) presenting token of appreciation to Tan as other staff and students look on.