PETCHEM Plant Revisited

We are still in Bintulu, having been here during the turn of the new year. As I mentioned earlier, I am committed to provide services to my former place of work in Bintulu. For that I am provided with all the necessary facilities like accommodation in a hotel, a car for my mobility and travel assistance where ever and whenever necessary. I am also allowed to plan my work schedule such that I can accommodate any personal activities within a reasonable time schedule. On top of this commitment I have another one day commitment, twice a month, at another former place of work in KL. Hence I have to juggle my movement schedule, Bintulu – KL/PeeJay, and by doing so Ram and I get to be home in PeeJay at least once a fortnight while at the same time accommodate our grandchildren’s demands on our time. It works well for me. Ohhhh ……. Life is so wonderful….

Although we stay in a hotel we spend quite a bit of time in Shaffik’s house, to be with the grandchildren. They would jump at the idea of joining us in the hotel. The hotel is located in a complex that includes a shopping mall, children’s playground and other facilities which is a natural attraction to the kids. So, it was hotel room, watch TV, video games on my laptop, go down to the mall, back to hotel room, mall again and so on every time the kids come over!!!

The grandchildren, all three of them have just started school. Babang and Dedek are in normal school now while little Haadieya has just started playschool. When asked after the first day of school, she said she did not cry in school, no no no, she insisted that she did not cry in school but we understood from her mummy that she insisted that mummy must be within her sight all the time!! Heh heh, not too confident to be left on her own with strangers in the school yet….. Babang and Dedek on the other hand had no problems on the first day of school. They are independent enough to be left on their own.

I have left this former place of work in Bintulu for more than twenty years. With this new commitment I get the opportunity to go into the facilities and had a first look at all the units yesterday. It is an oil and gas installation, a petrochemical plant, producing ammonia and urea fertilizer. More than twenty years ago I was involved in the implementation of the project starting with the initial groundbreaking and leveling of the site, and on to the design, construction and commissioning of the ammonia and urea plant plus their related facilities. I was fortunate to be given the responsibility of commissioning and start up of the urea plant. So, going into the site yesterday brought back memories of the time I commissioned it more than twenty years ago. It has been 24 years to be exact. Some of my former staff who was with me here more than twenty years ago are still here but they have aged, some marking time for retirement, while many others have retired with a few being re-employed on contract basis. It was pleasant to meet them again after all these years. All remember me very well and some of the new ones were happy to meet me knowing that I am Shaffik’s father. Shaffik and Mini are both working here now – second generation intervention, heh heh. In fact I found out that there are a few second generation employees here.

The plant itself is not exactly what it was when I was here as there had been revamps and rejuvenation projects over the length of time, either to debottleneck, to update, or to increase capacity. The major equipments however are still there. Hence it did not appear alien to me. I could still figure out the processes and operation requirements. Walking around the site was like walking through a time tunnel seeing old equipments still standing with new equipments erected in between old ones. Similarly, meeting old staff and many new and younger staff, up and about in the plant areas, was indeed invigorating. I will get to continue doing this for the next six months or so and I hope it will be an exciting six months……

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Bintulu