Curtin petroleum engineering students pay Deleum Oilfield Services a ‘virtual visit’

Miri – 10 September 2020 – Embracing the new norm and due to their studies having moved online, petroleum engineering students of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) made a ‘virtual industry visit’ to Deleum Oilfield Services Sdn. Bhd. (DOSSB)’s wireline facility in Miri recently.

Industry visits are a course requirement in the Curtin Bachelor of Engineering in Petroleum Engineering programme delivered at Curtin Malaysia, and to ensure their continued effective learning, virtual visits are being organised for the students in place of physical visits throughout the current semester.

DOSSB offers the largest wireline packages in Malaysia, supplying more than 55 per cent of the country’s requirement. They include electric line (e-line) and slickline, the working mechanisms of which was explained to the students during the virtual visit.

Wireline technology refers to a cabling technology used by operators to install or fish equipment into or from production wells for the purpose of reservoir evaluation, well intervention or pipe recovery. They are designed for particular tasks such as installing artificial lifts; evaluating rock properties, the location of casing collars and formation pressures, and information regarding pore size or fluid identification; and sample recovery.

The online session included two online technical workshops. In the first workshop, the students learned from DOSSB Wireline Operator/Fishing Specialist Rakawi Matasan about different wireline tools and how they are used in real-life operations.

In the next workshop, the students learned about gas lift functions, components and working mechanisms. Gas lift is an artificial lift technology that uses an external source of high-pressure gas to supplement formation gas and improve hydrocarbon recovery. On hand to elaborate on this was DOSSB technician Yusof Jamin.

Petroleum engineering lecturer Associate Professor Hisham, who organised the virtual visit, remarked that the visit, albeit conducted online, was highly beneficial to the students. He said it enabled them to enhance their practical understanding of tool operations performed by industry operators, particularly the technicalities of well intervention, and the all-Important health, safety and environmental practices in upstream operations.

Associate Professor Hisham said that it was also a privilege for the students to participate in the technical workshops, which were similar to those oil and gas companies regularly conduct for their staff to enhance their industrial knowledge and competencies. He added that the experience would be a good addition to the students’ résumés.

Associate Professor Hisham furthermore emphasised that industry visits and other forms of practical learning are very significant to the petroleum engineering course at Curtin Malaysia as they assist the students to connect what they learn in the classrooms to real-life industry applications.

“The virtual visit to Deleum Oilfield Services complemented their study of the Production Technology unit of their course. We chose Deleum Oilfield Services for the visit as the company is renowned and experienced in this region.

“The company is one of the industry partners Curtin Malaysia works closely with to enhance student learning and career development. Our students have visited Deleum’s facility on several occasions previously and we will continue to organise visits there in the future,” said Associate Professor Hisham.

Associate Professor Hisham thanked the DOSSB team led by Head of East Malaysia – Oilfield Operations Kelvin Goh Hock Kiong and Operations Senior Engineer Agnese Jati Charlie for hosting the visit and for their continued support towards petroleum engineering education at Curtin Malaysia.

The DOSSB technical team (L-R): Kelvin Goh, Yusof Jamin, Rakawi Matasan and Agnese Jati Charlie.