08 July 2017

SPAD's Proposed Law for Cab Hailing Companies

Cab Hailing Companies are Hot Right Now.

If you live in Kuala Lumpur, or one of the other major cities, you would no doubt have heard, or even used, a cab hailing app like Grab or Uber. They are also known as "e-hailing services". 

Grab and Uber are popular e-hailing apps in Malaysia

When they first started in Malaysia, it sparked a trend for car owners who needed extra income to drive for one of the two companies. Uber is US-based, while Grab is homegrown. (Founder Anthony Tan's grandfather apparently founded Tan Chong Motors.) 

As their popularity began to increase, taxi drivers protested, because they were being deprived of business. They held protests and press conferences. One spokesman even announced that he would vote against BN if Grab and Uber were allowed to operate.

But the apps were allowed to operate, seemingly for the benefit of the masses. While using the apps to hail a cab driver, you could see the prices indicated, a huge plus for passengers who never knew how much they would be forced to pay. The apps provides the driver's name, telephone number and vehicle number plate, also another plus point. Most people would not have these details, especially necessary for police reports.

06 May 2017

Energy needs to be decarbonized, decentralized, and digitized

"Energy needs to be decarbonized, decentralized, and digitized"

You can download and watch the video by clicking here.

The title of this post is from a promotional video for a "MOOC", which is short for "Massive Online Open Course". MOOCs are real course modules from universities, opened for enrolment to anyone in the world. The words "massive" and "open" mean that anyone can join... and so can you!

The MOOC is "New Energy Technologies: Energy Transition and Sustainable Development". It is being offered the Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM), on FutureLearn, the UK MOOC platform.

Here is a description of the MOOC:
Discover how business and technology are taking on the world’s energy challenges



28 March 2017

Competitive Petrol Prices Soon?

The first article

Today I was referred an article at Sinar Harian, "Perang Harga Minyak Bermula!".

Translated into English, it means, "The Oil Price Wars Begin!"

And in that article there is a tantalizing line: "...setiap stesen minyak akan berlumba-lumba menawarkan harga bahan api yang istimewa bagi menggoda pengguna untuk mengisi petrol atau diesel di stesen mereka."

Translated into English, it means, "... every petrol station will race to offer special prices for petrol to seduce consumers to fill in petrol or diesel at their station."

That seems to imply that different petrol stations will have different petrol prices!

08 January 2017

Malaysia and OPEC

What is OPEC?

OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is an intergovernmental organization, created in 1960 at the behest of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. These five countries are commonly called the Founding Countries of OPEC.

If you stare hard enough at the OPEC logo, you might see four barrels of oil.

Other countries which are members of OPEC include:

  1. Qatar (joined 1961), 
  2. Indonesia (joined 1962), 
  3. Libya (joined 1962), 
  4. the United Arab Emirates (joined 1967), 
  5. Algeria (joined 1969), 
  6. Nigeria (joined 1971), 
  7. Ecuador (joined 1973), 
  8. Gabon (joined 1975) and 
  9. Angola (joined 2007).

02 September 2016

Upstream, Midstream, Downstream.

What are the differences?

In the oil and gas industry, there are various sectors which may be conveniently be described as upstream, midstream, and downstream. 

"Upstream" refers to the exploration and production of oil.

"Midstream" refers to the transporting, processing, and storing of oil.

"Downstream" refers to the manufacturing, refining, petro-chemicals, marketing, and retailing of oil.

This is how the upstream river looks like.