Petronas and petrol price hike

Letter 1

Dear all,

After reading all the chain mails and blogs, I feel called to reply, because of the relentless attacks and allegations -- most of which are inaccurate or baseless -- against PETRONAS.

PETRONAS' STAFF SALARY & BONUS

1) The salaries paid to PETRONAS' employees are not as high as people think. At best, they are just industry average. And these are not attractive enough for some who left PETRONAS to find work at other companies (mainly from the Middle East) which are willing to pay more. Why do they pay more? The oil and gas industry worldwide has been facing acute shortage of qualified or experienced personnel, so most companies are willing to pay lots of money to entice and pinch staff from their competitors.

Bonus? There has NEVER been a bonus amounting to 6 months or 12 months throughout the 33 years. On average, it is 2 months. But don't ever think we don't deserve it. We more than deserve it. A lot of us work really hard, some in the most extreme of conditions. Those who have been to and worked in northern Sudan, for example, would testify that it's like working in a huge blower oven. Southern Sudan, on the other hand, is almost all swamps and mud. Imagine having to go through that kind of heat, or waddling in muddy swamps, day in and day out.

QUALITY OF CRUDE & REFINED PRODUCTS

2) Malaysia produces about 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day (and about 100,000 barrels condensate). Of this crude volume, 339,000 barrels are refined locally for local consumption. The rest is exported (and yes, because it has lower sulphur content it fetches higher prices).

Malaysia also imports about 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day, mainly from the Middle East, to be refined here. This crude oil contains higher sulphur and is less expensive (so the country gains more by exporting our crudes). In Malaysia, this crude is processed by PETRONAS at its second refinery in Melaka, and also by Shell at its Port Dickson refinery.

Different refineries are built and configurated to refine different types of crude. And each crude type yields different percentage of products (diesel, gasoline, kerosene, cooking gas etc) per barrel.

But most importantly, products that come out at the end of the refining process have the same good quality regardless of the crude types. That's why PETRONAS, Shell and Exxon Mobil share the same pipeline to transport the finished products from their refineries to a distribution centre in the Klang Valley. The three companies collect the products at this centre accordingly to be distributed to their respective distribution networks. What makes PETRONAS' petrol different from Shell's, for example, is the additive that each company adds.

PETRONAS' ROLE, FUNCTION & CONTRIBUTION

3) A lot of people also do not understand the role and function of PETRONAS, which is essentially a company, a business entity, which operates on a commercial manner, to mainly generate income and value for its shareholder. In this case, PETRONAS' shareholder is the Government.

In 1974, when PETRONAS was set up, the Government gave PETRONAS RM10 million (peanuts, right?) as seed capital. From 1974 to 2007, PETRONAS made RM570 billion in accumulated profits, and returned to the Government a total of RM335.7 billion. That is about 65% of the profits. That means for every RM1 that PETRONAS makes, 65 sen goes back to the Government.

Last year, PETRONAS made a pre-tax profit of RM86.8 billion. The amount given back to the Government (in royalty, dividends, corporate income tax, petroleum products income tax and export duty) was RM52.3 billion. The rest of the profit was used to pay off minority interests and taxes in foreign countries (about RM7.8 billion - PETRONAS now operates in more than 30 countries), and the remaining RM26.7 billion was reinvested. The amount reinvested seems a lot, but the oil and gas industry is technology- and capital-intensive. Costs have gone up exponentially in the last couple of years. Previously, to drill a well, it cost about US$3 million; now it costs US$7 million. The use of rigs was US$200,000 a day a couple of years ago; now it costs US$600,000 a day.

A lot of people also do not realise that the amount returned by PETRONAS to the Government makes up 35% of the Government's total annual income, to be used by the Government for expenditures, development, operations, and yes, for the various subsidies. That means for every RM1 the Government makes, 35 sen is contributed by PETRONAS.

So, instead of asking what happens to PETRONAS' money or profits, people should be questioning how the money paid by PETRONAS to the Government is allocated.

CRUDE EXPORTS & FUEL PRICES

4) A lot of people also ask, why Malaysia exports its crude oil. Shouldn't we just stop exporting and sell at cheaper prices to local refiners? If Malaysia is an oil exporting country, why can't we sell petrol or diesel at cheaper prices like other oil producing countries in the Middle East?

I guess I don't have to answer the first couple of questions. It's simple economics, and crude oil is a global commodity.

Why can't we sell petrol and diesel at lower prices like in the Middle East? Well, comparing Saudi Arabia and other big producers to Malaysia is like comparing kurma to durian, because these Middle Eastern countries have much, much, much bigger oil and gas reserves.

Malaysia has only 5.4 billion barrels of oil reserves, and about 89 trillion cubic feet of gas. Compare that to Saudi Arabia's 260 billion barrels of oil and 240 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Malaysia only produces 600,000 barrels per day of oil. Saudi Arabia produces 9 million barrels per day. At this rate, Saudi Arabia's crude oil sales revenue could amount to US$1.2 billion per day! At this rate, it can practically afford almost everything -- free education, healthcare, etc, and subsidies -- for its people.

But if we look at these countries closely, they have in the past few years started to come up with policies and strategies designed to prolong their reserves and diversify their income bases. In this sense, Malaysia (and PETRONAS) has had a good head start, as we have been doing this a long time.

Fuel prices in Malaysia is controlled by the Government based on a formula under the Automatic Pricing Mechanism introduced more than a couple of decades ago. It is under this mechanism that the complex calculation of prices is made, based on the actual cost of petrol or diesel, the operating costs, margin for dealers, margin for retail oil companies (including PETRONAS Dagangan Bhd) and the balancing number of duty or subsidy. No retail oil companies or dealers actually make money from the hike of the fuel prices. Oil companies pay for the products at market prices, but have to sell low, so the Government reimburses the difference -- thus subsidy.

Subsidy as a concept is OK as long as it benefits the really deserving segment of the population. But there has to be a limit to how much and how long the Government should bear and sustain subsidy. An environment where prices are kept artificially low indefinitely will not do anyone any good. That's why countries like Indonesia are more pro-active in removing subsidies. Even Vietnam (which is a socialist country, by the way) is selling fuel at market prices.

PETRONAS & TRANSPARENCY

5) I feel I also need to say something on the allegation that PETRONAS is not transparent in terms of its accounts, business transactions etc.

PETRONAS is first and foremost a company, operating under the rules and regulations of the authorities including the Registrar of Companies, and the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia for its listed four subsidiaries (PETRONAS Dagangan Bhd, PETRONAS Gas Bhd, MISC Bhd and KLCC Property Holdings Bhd.

PETRONAS the holding company produces annual reports which are made to whomever wants them, and are distributed to many parties and places; including to the library at the Parliament House for perusal and reading pleasure of all Yang Berhormat MPs (if they care to read). PETRONAS also makes the annual report available on its website, for those who bother to look. The accounts are duly audited.

The website also contains a lot of useful information, if people really care to find out. Although PETRONAS is not listed on Bursa Malaysia, for all intents and purposes, it could be considered a listed entity as its bonds and financial papers are traded overseas. This requires scrutiny from investors, and from rating agencies such as Standard & Poor and Moody's.

BOYCOTT PETRONAS?

6) The last time I checked, this is still a democratic country, where people are free to spend their money wherever they like.

For those who like to see more of the money that they spend go back to the local economy and benefiting their fellow Malaysians, perhaps they should consider sticking to local products or companies.

For those who like to see that the money they spend go back to foreign shareholders of the foreign companies overseas, they should continue buying foreign products.

FINAL WORD (FOR TODAY)

I'm sorry this is rather long, but I just have to convey it. I hope this would help some of you out there understand something. The oil and gas industry, apart from being very capital intensive, is also very complex and volatile. I'm learning new things almost every single day.

Appreciate if you could help to forward this response to as many contacts as possible to counter the subversive proposal out there.

Thank you.

Wilson Lee Gain Loon (CAU_MEDIARELATIONS/PETH)


Letter 2

Do what you like.

The price of gasoline at the petrol station is set by the Government, not PETRONAS. PETRONAS has done its patriotic duty by paying the dividends, royalties, corporate tax, petroleum tax etc to the Government for YOUR benefit (rakyat lah).

And bear in mind that 30% of its revenue comes from overseas operations, thus bringing in foreign exchange to the country.

OK. Assuming that you buy this idea proposed by whomever it was.

So PETRONAS will have reduced revenues. Bear in mind that the costs of operations are also increasing. So the profits are reduced. Then PETRONAS and other oil companies pay less tax.Then the Government will have less revenue. (Note: at least 40% of Government revenue for 2007 came from the oil industry). With less revenue, there will be less Government projects (you can then forget about bridges and highways, and rail tracks, and smart schools and not-so-smart universities, and hospitals, etc). So contractors and consultants, and con-sultans and con-cronies will cry and scream. Makan batu lah..

The Government has already announced freezing of recruitment. So, many new graduates will be unemployed. Makan batu lagi. Maggi mee pun tak mampu dah. Later, all sorts of allowances for civil servants will have to be withdrawn. Treasury tak cukup duit.

On top of that the oil industry may have to scale back many of its new investments, totaling about 45 billion ringgit over the next few years. Contractors, service providers, steel fabricators, maritime service providers etc will join the ratapan tangisan – no jobs.

Don’t forget that PETRONAS is sponsoring thousands of students in universities and even high schools – at any one time there are more than 4,500 university students being sponsored by PETRONAS in Malaysian universities and overseas. Also more than 2,000 high school children receive minor scholarships – children of poor families.

Kalau PERTRONAS tak ada duit, kesian lah mereka di atas tu. Shall I ask them to see the proposer of this idea (to boycott PETRONAS) and seek help from them instead?

So, it is to YOUR benefit that you make sure PETRONAS keeps making enough money to support YOUR Government so that your children can continue to go to school without paying for fees and books, and to go to universities at peanuts rates.

CONCLUSION: Help yourself and your family and your country by making sure that PETRONAS keeps making profits. Go to the nearest PETRONAS station and fill up now!! Don’t forget that if you go to non-Petronas station, the profits that these companies get will go their shareholders OVERSEAS.

So, be patriotic. Do your duty.

Go to PETRONAS!!

(I hope you guys will help to send this response to as many contacts as possible to counter this subversive proposal).

Rosti B Saruwono - Datuk Dr (VP_Edu/PETH)

Taken from http://www.karthiben.blogspot.com/

Back to uni

I hate being back to uni. I'm so tired. Trying to overhaul my sleep pattern. And trying to overcome the residual laziness from holiday. Some many other things about hating to start again. Too many.

Angry

I don't usually get angry when I'm at work. The hospital that I normally work at is fantastic, and I think the patients in this hospital are very lucky to receive such great care. Today was an exception.

H is a 94 year old man who has 'deteriorated' and 'dying'. Eventhough he couldn't express himself in words, if he is in distress, his body language would tell. It was 10 minutes before the end of my shift when I discovered his hands stained with poo, so was his blankets. He was in a mess. I looked at the clock. There was no way I could clean him up in 10 minutes on my own. So I asked for help from a permanent staff, she told me to ask the night staff as they had begin their shift 5 minutes ago. But the night staff said no. They were making themselves a brew and I had to ask another day staff (agency) who kindly agreed to help. We both went home 15 minutes later than we were supposed to.

I didn't mind staying longer to help a patient in need. I just felt bad for dragging the other girl along. The thing is, how can anyone prioritize having a cup of tea over cleaning up a dying patient literally covered in poo? That just left me fuming for a bit. I could have left H sleeping on his poo and go off duty, but I just couldn't do it. I really can't say for others, but if I'm the one dying, I won't want to be left in that state at all. And I believe in karma if I choose to ignore, things will get back on me in one way or another.

I think I did the right thing and had the right to be slightly angry.

Olympics

Just watched the men badminton single's semifinal which featured top Malaysian player Lee Chong Wei. Gosh it was so exciting to watch. I kept jumping up and down, huffing and puffing, cheering and shouting, clapping and banging my table. It's funny to listen to those BBC commentators talking. They kept saying that Lee is 'a reactive player', 'lack urgency', 'passive' etc and I kept shouting 'shut up you two!', 'don't say things like that about my countryman!'. It was a really good match. Finally when Chong Wei won, I really felt for him and there were tears in my eye. I sincerely hope he'll go all out and win the gold back for Malaysia!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Nightmare

I don't usually remember my dream but last night was an exception. In the ward I was working yesterday, there was a patient, RH, who was a bed bound patient, confused and noisy. He kept shouting very loudly for attention. He wanted help to make him more comfortable, which required arranging the pillows and moving him up the bed. I tried my best but he still wasn't comfy. So I asked for someone else to help me. But everyone else was busy, and later on I became busy with other patients as well. I told him I'd be back but I just couldn't get anyone else to help me. So he was left there shouting on top of his voice. The other nurses told me to just ignore him. And last night, I dreamt that he died. I was cleaning his room after he'd gone. And I distinctly remember feeling so guilty.

This must be the worst kind of nightmare that a person with my job (with conscience) can have, knowing that I have not done my best to make sure a person die a good death. It has actually happened once in real life. During the first week of my clinical year, this old man kept telling us that he was in pain and he was not comfortable at all. We tried to make him comfortable to no avail. So he kept complaining. And the other nurses told us to ignore him. On the next day when I came on my shift, his bed was empty. Apparently he passed away the night before. I remembered being so overwhelmed by a strong feeling of sadness and guilt. That's why after that I always take any patient's concern genuinely. It doesn't matter whether they are confused or manipulative. If a person is in pain, he or she will know best.

A while ago, we had a group discussion on an interesting topic on the role of a doctor. When I say 'Hi, my name is Yee Yen and I am your doctor', what does that actually mean? Should a doctor only be dealing with the medical side of things and leave everything else to the designated professionals? I once had spent half an hour holding an old lady's hand so she could fall asleep without fear - would that be little too much of a 'touchy-feely' job for a doctor to do? I don't think so. I think a doctor is part of the big team of health care professionals who work towards the overall well being of a patient, and a doctor should do everything he or she can to support the colleagues. And most of all I think being compassionate is just the basic attribute that every health care professionals should have. If one can't demonstrate that, he or she doesn't deserve a patient's trust to work as a health professional.

Mathematics in french

We learnt simple mathematics in french today and it had been very very difficult. The process of thought just takes so long. In english, malay or mandarin, I can do 34-12 = 22 in 2 seconds. In french, it took me about 2 minutes to work out and say out the whole thing. I have to change the number from french to english, then calculate in english then translate the answer into french again. Seriously math has never been this hard for me ever...

Testosterone shift

I don't like working in psychiatry wards. The job itself may seem relaxing but I just feel mentally drained each time I finish a mental health shift. I was working in a male psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) today. I was really scared when I first went in (but I was experienced enough to put on a confident face) because all the guys looked so strong and muscular, and they talked about how they want to kill each other all the time.

I had a good chat with T, who was charged with a criminal offence and held in for psychiatric review. He is just one year older than me and I hated him calling me 'miss'. Then D, a really muscular big guy, came along to chat with me. But then, I felt really uncomfortable when he wanted to share a chair with me and asked me to be his girlfriend. When D started putting his arm around my shoulders, I genuinely felt I wanted to get off, and the other two staff told him to keep his hands off me as well. He did, but he just wouldn't stop asking me to go out and give him my mobile number. At that time I was doing a 1:1 observation with T, but T walked away and went to talk to another staff. So I followed. Apparently he was upset about D's indecency towards me. He told me to keep on smiling and not let D get me down, but in fact it he who let D bring him down. He was at the verge of puncing D. I was so happy that he was able to control himself. However later on, they both nearly broke out into a big fight again because of this.

I felt slightly guilty. I suppose it's partly my fault. It wasn't because I was flitatious in any way (I do not wear make up, I wear conservative clothes and my hair is always tied on a pony tail. I take 5 minutes to dress). I am just never good at asserting myself. I am too nice to people. I said 'no' to D, but when he said 'come on.. why.. (blablabla)' I didn't reaffirm myself with another firm 'no'. But I was scared, the other staff said he has a problem with authority (and I can tell from interacting with him), what if he starts to be aggressive to me when I contradict him? I seriously didn't know what to do. I just tried not to react too much when he tried to get my attention. Anyway I finished my shift unharmed. What a relief...

Despite what I've said earlier, this has been one of my best shift. The reason being that I was able to have a proper conversation with T, not the usual patronising, 'pretending to listen but not really taking in' that I do with many patients. Maybe it's because we are of a similar age group, so we can relate to each other more. Today I've had a fantastic lesson listening to an experienced nurse talking therapeutically to T, and I really respected him for being able to speak so wisely. But I think I'm just too young to speak like that, for if anything like that comes out of my mouth it would sound more patronising than actual wisdom.

Finally I just want to mention that my favourite psychiatric illness is bipolar disorder. Extremely fascinating!

Stripping yourself naked, emotionally

S is a driver of the nursing agency I work for. He brings us to and from hospital which is miles away. I am not much of a chatter in a minibus especially as I feel sick really quickly. So I've not really know him much eventhough we've met on quite a few occasions now, but I know he's a really nice fella. Today he picked me up first and we spent about 20 minutes waiting outside another place for the other carers. I thought it would be awkward to just keep quiet, so I started chatting. We talked about the journey, the agency and our jobs. Then he said something unexpected. He told me about his low mood, about problems in life and how this job is just to force him to get out of the depressive mood. I didn't know how to react. If I were with my patient, I would sit down and have a proper chat to find out more. Yet just now I wasn't sure if I should dwell in at all. It just didn't feelt very natural - would you tell someone about things like relationship problems to a stranger? I wouldn't. I just listened. Our conversation abruptly ended as people started getting onto the minibus. It has given me a lot to think about. He has certainly hidden his low mood very well as I'd never have guessed that he's just barely coping. It challenged my judgement on people's mental state based on their behaviours.

But why did he tell me those things? In my last GP placement, I had the privillage of sitting in with a clinical psychologist in one of her therapy sessions. I can tell that these sessions were very painful for the patients because they relive their terrible ordeal. I personally am quite an expressive person, but I (and everyone else I suppose) have bad memories that I shall never ever want to think about. Making me think and talk about them would be akin to stripping myself naked. It would make me feel extremely insecure and allow others to invade me. So what made a S tell me about things so intimate to a stranger like myself? Was it normal? Was it an outburst? Was it because I was in my nurse uniform and I told him that I'm a medical student? Was it not really stripping himself naked emotionally after all, or was he simple not an emotional virgin anymore?