Another son of mine joined me in Oil & Gas

Just about after Hari Raya, 2010, my 3rd son, Faridz Jahiah Simbaku, joined me in the Oil & gas industry. He joined Dimension Bid Sdn Bhd, a local Wireline company and based in Miri. He graduated from Staffordshire University, UK, in Bsc (Hon) Mechanical Engineer. He is now working as a trainee logging specialist engineer.

Some Sabahans are plain snobbish.

I was on a plane from Manila to Kuala Lumpur on 30/12/10, and happened to sit down with two ladies - one with a small baby on her lap sitting at seat A. I was sitting at C while a woman, who looked like her sister was sitting at B. The two were talking malay and I knew that they were Sabahans. I was therefore more helpful to them to accommodate in the seats because both were XXL and also the other one having a baby in her arm. I was also speaking the Sabahan loghat in a hope that by that gesture we could feel more comfortable sitting as seatmates.
I was also telling them it is difficult to fly from Manila to Kota Kinabalu using MAS due to no direct flight. Flying from Manila to Kota Kinabalu will take a mere 2 hours if it is direct...but when you fly via Kuala Lumpur, it will take you minimum 8 hours if you can get the connection flight KL/KK early.
To my surprise they didn't even talk to me back and just gave the impression that I was not existing there.
I never know that there are Sabahans like that - all these while I've considered Sabahans (what more to say Kadazans) are friendly and not 'éxpensive' to give away a smile or at least talk to a fellow Sabahans especially in a foreign land.
'Bagus kalau cantik...ini gemuk macam apa!! Masuk tempat duduk kapal terbang pun susah.
Sombong bukan main...menyesal saya tolong angkat barang.

Easy Money

Talking about easy money, I think I got it. I flew all the way from Manila to KL on Sunday, 7/3/10, checked into Concorde hotel for a night. Went to Kota Bahru on 8/3/10, checked into Renaissance hotel and standby for an offshore job. At about 9pm, while I was shopping, my colleagues from Cakerwala platform called me and told me that he had cancelled my flight to Cakerwala because the job there has been completed. So I just came to Kota Bahru to have a holiday. I requested a ticket flight back to KL on 9/3 and today, 10/3 I am back to the office at 67th floor Petronas Twin tower, standing by again for the next job which is sometimes 1st week of April....hmmm what else can I ask for.

Fellow rungus offshore.

All these years I have been working in Oil & Gas, this is the first time I came across a rungus man working in this trying environment. Well, apart from my son, Khairil Simbaku, who is a wellhead specialist with Cameron, there has been nobody yet I met a real momogun to be working in this industry.
Yeah...but here he is in Cakerwala platform working as an Technical Inspector with Carigali Hess. His name is Nicolas Ovulin. He comes from Barambangon, Kudat, Sabah.
Yes, it is definitely a good one to have conversation in our own dialect and it is happening offshore.

BOSSET - Basic Offshore Escape Training, HUET- Helicopter Underwater Escape Training.

If anybody of you guys out there contemplating on working offshore in any of these Oil & gas companies in Malaysia or anywhere around the world, BOSSET, HUET & BASIC FIRE FIGHTING training are a must-to-do before you can go.
The training is a 3-day exercise and it is a must that you pass. The first requirement is knowing how to swim or at least no fear of water, no fear of height and little bit adventurous could be an advantage. The reason why I mentioned that is because the training involves jumping to the water at a height of 15 feet, escaping out from a submerged and overturned helicopter through the windows or doors of a chopper.
The first day, the training involved survival in the open sea - surviving like knowing how to deploy the life raft from the helicopter or boat, jumping into it, and floating yourself and your friends together eating & drinking a meagre ration provided in the life raft for days until help come......if ever be. You also know how to deploy smoke signal and flares to attract attention of a passing ship or plane. You should know how to upright an overturned life raft. Included in the first day is the jumping out from a 15-foot platform to the sea and survive.
Second day is the HUET. We did 5 exercises. One of the hardest training because you need to escape from an overturned helicopter through the door or the window. I have done this training many times (maybe 12 times in my life since I started working offshore) but the recent one I attended with CONSIST, in Ulu Klang was something new because we needed to don a re-breather suit to escape. This re-breather is actually a breathing apparatus which we can breath or recycle our breathed out air a few times in hope to prolong our breathing capabilities when under water. It actually worked.
Third day.....easy. We began the fire fighting training by entering and escaping from a very-very dark building that we did not have any clue what's inside or the features. It was totally dark could not see a thing. There were small table, tunnels, small ladder, obstacles of knee high and the only thing we could move forward was by touching the walls as a guide. Then we learned about the chemistry of fire, fire triangle, different types of fire and the types of fire extinguishers to use.
All in all the training was fun but at the same time my 55-year old muscles were tested to the limit especially on scrambing the safety net.
HUET was a fear factor kind of experience.

What a small oil world.

After I got my lunch today, I went to Ampang Point and bought an oil filter for my Toyota Unser. Then I went back to KLCC, parked my Honda kapcai underneath KLCC, went up to the lower ground floor. Plenty of people criss-crossing the floor especially today after the Friday prayer, and one that never cross in my mind was meeting one good friend of mine from Halul, Qatar. But he was there with his wife - capt Shamsuddin, a marine officer with Qatar Petroleum in Halul. What a small world is in the oil gas industry.
But again he is a Malaysian and would like to come back to work in Malaysia if there is opportunity.
Think of it...how lucky I am.

1st time went up to KLCC Petronas TT

I woke up early morning on 11/1/2010 in my Concorde Hotel. Called my agent Velosi but no answer. Called Carigali Hess office for direction as to how to go up to their office at 68th floor of the once upon a time the highest building in the world. After the direction, I walked to KLCC, looked up and figured out how I would go to the 68th floor.
I am no stranger to KL because I know the city pretty well after living in it for 5 years, but of course never had gone up to the Petronas Twin Tower before. Hhmmm....adventure I thought.
So, first thing - get a temporary pass from the KLCC security, then another temporary pass from the Carigali Hess security guard. Having done that, went to the express lift that would take me from the mezzanine deck to 42th floor, then I transferred to another lift that would take me from 42th floor to 68th. This was where a screwed up started because this is where there are two lifts running in tandem but one stops at odd number floors and the other even number floors, and I didn't know that.
So when I was inside the lift (for odd number lift) I was frantically looking for the number 68th floor - I couldn't find it, so I just press 69 and would think that I just stop at floor 69 and would go by the staircases down to 68th floor.
So I did. I opened the fire door leading to the staircase and went down to 68th floor. But when I opened the door entering the 68th floor, it couldn't be opened because it was only designed to be opened from inside. I went back to 69th floor where I came from - the same story, the door couldn't be opened. So I was trapped in the staircases that had no exit at all. There was no emergency bell to press and knocking the doors for help was useless because the sound couldn't be possibly be heard by any one.
Lucky!!!!I had my mobile phone. I called the receptionist of Carigali Hess who allerted the KLCC security and organized rescue team for me.
Good experience, guys.