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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Manipal International University (MIU) intends to produce a well-rounded graduates who
are not only competent in technical skills, but also possess other traits such as a lifetime
learning capacity, critical thinking, communication and grooming skills, business acumen,
practical aptitude and solution synthesis ability. Hence, Industrial Internship Program is
introduced to expose their undergraduate students to work culture and industrial practices,
so that their students not only possess theoretical knowledge but also able to integrate
theory with practice.
This Industrial Internship Program is conducted for 14 weeks (3 months) and
compulsory for all MIU students in order to graduate with Bachelor’s Degree. It consists
Industrial Project where the students have to do a technical report of a project. The
students will undergo their industrial internship at a host company relevant to their courses.
The author was attached to Process Engineering of PETRON refinery located in Port
Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. Under supervision of MR.Gunaraj Raman, the author has
successfully completed the first 14 weeks of industrial training. The author also able to get
some insight and practical application of theories learnt in MIU based on industrial
practice.

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The Student Industrial Training report summarizes all the relevant tasks and project that the
author was involved during the first 14 weeks internship period at the host company. The
report consists of four main sections, the first section being the general overview of the
company, the core business and the company’s products and services. The second sections
cover the works culture in the company, the safety regulations, training provided,
teamwork and the company’s work ethics. The author’s learning experiences and
knowledge gained will be well explained in the third section of the report. In the fourth
section, the conclusion and recommendations towards MIU will be put across. The final
section is a wrap up of the whole report consisting of references and appendices.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The assessment for industrial training in only either pass or fail and marks are dependent
on the log book, student’s performance & competency and the presentation & short report.
At the end of the internship period, students should be able to apply the basic knowledge in
industrial application and achieve the objectives as follows:
 To introduce students to work culture and industrial practices
 To integrate theory with practice
 To demonstrate skills in communication, management and teamwork
 To adopt ethic, professionalism and HSE practices in work culture
 To demonstrate continuous building of skill and knowledge throughout the training
 To appreciate of sustainability in industry

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OBJECTIVES
The training is planned such that it will produce well-rounded graduates. It is good to have
clear goals and expectations doing the internship training. The objectives of the internship
training are:
 To integrate theory with practice
 To introduce students to work culture and industrial practices
 To give opportunity to students to work with industrial practitioners
 To expose students to potential employers
 To acquaint the MIU student with industry and its programme.
 To appreciate the importance of soft skills and other qualities necessary in the
working environment

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GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY
Figure 1: Overall View of Petron’s Port Dickson Refinery
Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, is part of Petron Corporation in the
Philippines operated in Malaysia. Port Dickson Refinery (PDR) is a subsidiary company of
Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (formerly known as Esso Malaysia Berhad).
The refinery is located about 5 km away from Port Dickson Town, 1 ½ Miles Off Jalan
Pantai. PDR and has been operating since 1963 with modest operation of 25 thousand
barrels per day (25 kbd) and has enhanced its operation until today with maximum capacity
of 88 thousand barrels per day (88 kbd). PDR operation is ongoing 24 hours to guarantee
sufficient high quality product will be supplied to the consumers.

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The refinery was developed on an agricultural land with 30% of it consists of onsite
vicinity (mainly process unit) and offsite vicinity (tank farm, flare lagoon and skim pond),
and 70% of its area kept undeveloped. The undeveloped area serves as a barrier zone of
refinery itself to the surrounding residential area (neighboring community). Significant of
this barrier zone is to put surrounding community at the minimum risk as possible in case
of incident or such major upset occur in the plant, for instance release of hazardous
chemical gas. This purpose is aligned to PDR main concern on its daily operation, which
safety always come first and minimum impact to the environment. Compliance to safety
regulation is each employee’s responsibility in the mission to achieve no loss time injury
(LTI) and safe workplace. For the information, PDR have the achievement of 11 years with
no LTI. The company also adheres to environmental regulations to ensure its operation
would not endanger the surrounding area.
PDR is one of the oldest refineries in Malaysia, since it has been operating for more than
48 years. PDR is a hydroskimmer type refinery. Hydroskimmer refinery is a type of simple
refinery in petroleum industry. It can be defined as refinery equipped with atmospheric
distillation, naphtha reforming units and other necessary treating process. PDR processes
Malaysian sweet crude from upstream production, which crude containing low sulfur
content. Hence less complex process required to process this type of crude. Other refineries
which process sour crude with high sulfur content will require much more complex process
units, including desulfurization process unit.
PDR manufactures oil and gas both as end product and intermediate product. Its product
variation is categorized as soft variation producing goods such as vehicles gasoline, jet fuel,
diesel fuels, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas.

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CORE BUSINESS
Figure 2: Oil Production Schematic Diagram
Crude oil is shipped from the Tank Crude Oil Terminal (TCOT) to Single Buoy Mooring
(SBM) where the crude will be transported through underground pipeline into the refinery
and then stored inside the crude tanks.
Crude oil first enters the Crude Preheat Train (CPHT) for heating before sending to
refinery process units. Currently, only one powerformer (PF 2) is in use. Powerformer 1 is
currently not in operation. Any oil spillage will be drained to the skim pond via sewer
system. The oil will be recovered at skim pond and sent back to tank for future process.
Excess gas or vented gas will be burnt as flare gas. Small amount of fuel/refinery gas will
be used as fuel for the refinery.
TO
PETRON

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Refinery products include Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Motor Gasoline (Mogas),
Naphtha, Kerosene (Jet Fuel) and Automobile Diesel Oil (ADO). Low Sulfur Waxy
Residual (LSWR) is produced as refinery by-product. These products are stored in either
product tankages or LPG spheres (for LPG only).
Useful products are sent to Port Dickson Terminal (PDT) or other distribution centers. LPG
is sent to Bottling Plant before distributed to other distribution centers. LPG is also
transported from Shell Refining Company (SRC) via pipelines. Motor gasoline (Mogas) is
blended according to the specification such as UL 95 and UL 97. Jet fuel is transported out
via Multipurpose Pipeline (MPP). Mogas, naphtha, kerosene and ADO are mostly
distributed via trucks and marine vessels. LSWR is sent to Singapore for further process
usage.
TYPES OF PRODUCTS
Figure 3: Products from Port Dickson Refinery

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The crude oil product that has been process at processing unit inside the refinery are:
Table 1: Product Description
Product Description
Fuel Gas Fuel gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon (such as methane and
propane), hydrogen, and others which are the sources of
potential heat energy that easily transmitted through pipes
directly to the place of consumption. Fuel gas is different with
liquid fuels and solid fuels, although somehow it may be
liquefied for storage or transportation.
Liquefied
Petroleum
Gas (LPG)
LPG is a combination of propane and butane, a flammable
mixture of hydrocarbon gases used to heat appliances and
vehicles. It is often referred to as autogas when used as a
vehicles fuel (many taxi car use LPG in Malaysia). Odorizers is
mixed with LPG used for fuel purposes so that leaks can be
detected more easily.
Motor
Gasoline
(MOGAS)
Gasoline is transparent, petroleum-derived oil that is primarily
used as a fuel in internal combustion engines, which is generally
used as a fuel for cars in Malaysia (RON95 and RON97).
Kerosene
(Jet Fuel)
Kerosene is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is widely
used by aircraft and some rocket engines. Apart from that, these
hydrocarbon liquid is also used in medical (to store crystals) and
lighting in rural areas where electrical distribution is not
available.

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Automotive
Diesel Oil
(ADO)
In general, ADO is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines
(generally lorries, trucks, and buses). Compared with gasoline,
diesel fuel has lower flammability and more efficient as it
provide more torque to engine. However, its viscosity increases
quickly as the fuel’s temperature decreases, turn into a non-
flowing gel at some certain temperature, which cannot be
transferred and pumped by regular fuel pump.
Low Sulfur
Waxy
Residue
(LSWR)
LSWR is a bottom product Crude Distillation Tower. It is used
as raw materials for further processing into variety of fuels. It
can be used for heating in cold temperature countries.
The finished products processed in the refinery will go to rundown and to their respective
tanks. Basically liquid products are stored in tanks while LPG is stored in spheres because
LPG needs to be stored in high pressure storage. Tanks with floating roof are for low flash
products while high flash products are stored in cone roof tanks.. There are more than 50
storages in the refinery including utility, crude and water tanks.

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TYPES OF SERVICES
Offsite and Onsite make the 2 important areas in the refinery. Onsite refers to the area
where the production or the process is taking place – APS Unit (Atmospheric Pipe Steel to
break down of the crude oil into different product), Refinery Process Unit (from APS Unit
to further process to make the end-product) and PF-2 Unit (to produce petrol).
The remaining area is called Offsite where it locates the tank farms, sludge farm, skim
pond, lagoon and office buildings. The activities going on inside the refinery is monitored,
adjusted and troubleshoot from the control house. For oil refinery, raw material essentially
is crude oil which consists of complex mixture of hydrocarbons with trace amounts of
oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, metallic elements. By having refinery, this crude oil will be
converted into finished products such as LPG, motor gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and
lubricating oils.

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Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) are composed of propane and butane. LPG is transported
as a liquid and burned as a gas. Gasoline is composed of hydrocarbon molecules that boil
lower than 150 0C. Finished gasoline is a blend product streams from many refinery units.
Jet fuel (Kerosene) is composed of hydrocarbons that boil between 150 0C to 270 0C.
Diesel is composed of hydrocarbons that boil between 270 0C to 400 0C. And for LSWR, it
is composed of hydrocarbons that boil more than 400 0C.
Figure 4: Onsite Refinery Unit Processing
There are many types of crude such as sweet vs sour, light vs heavy, lube certified,
asphalt certified. Three main types of hydrocarbon groups are paraffins, naphthenes
(Cycloparaffins) and aromatics. Olefins are also created in some refinery processes.
Complexity of molecules increases with increasing boiling range. Table 2 below showed

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the composition of crude with carbon as the major component with percentage nearly 85-
90%.
Table 2: Composition of Crude Based On Weight Percent (wt %)
Composition wt%
Carbon 83 - 87
Hydrogen 11 - 15
Sulfur up to 6
Oxygen up to 5
Nitrogen up to 0.5
Trace Metals up to 0.1

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At present, PETRON PDR used mixture of Tapis crude as major element with other crudes
– TCondy and Kikeh. Tapis is preferred as it contains low sulfur which indicates to better
production. PDR went through a number of debottlenecking steps to process more Tapis
crude as the demand for clean product has increased. Contaminants that can be found in
crude which can influence production are:
 Sulfur:
 Corrosive, hence affects refinery construction
 Detrimental impact on environment when fuels containing sulfur are burned
 Hydro treating and sweetening processes are employed to remove or convert
harmful sulfur compounds
 Nitrogen
 As nitrogen compounds found in crude oil is a catalyst poison
 Hydro treating the feed streams to the reformer and hydrocracker removes
nitrogen and protects the catalyst
 Metals
 Metals such as nickel, copper, iron and vanadium also reduce catalyst activity
 Hydro treating is also employed to remove metals
 Salts
 Calcium and magnesium salts can lead to formation of hydrochloric acid, which
corrodes carbon steel
 Desalting which scrubbing the crude oil with water is used to remove salts

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The detailed processes of the refinery are shown from the figure below:
Figure 5: Detail Refinery Process

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Crude oil is shipped from Terengganu Crude Oil Terminal (TCOT) in Kerteh. Crude is
transferred from the Crude Ship to Single Buoy Mooring (SBM); a floating jetty shared by
PETRON and SHELL. The crude is transferred from sea to shore to Crude Tanks in PDR
through 32” underground pipeline which is also shared between PETRON and SHELL.
In order to reduce loss of product and contamination to the environment and the
community, any oil spill during the process will be drained to the skim pond through sewer
system. The oil, recovered at skim pond will then send back to the tank for future
processing. The excess process product or the product that does not meet company’s
required standard will be reprocess or burn at the flare stack inside the refinery.
The crude that enters the refinery will be directed to the Main Crude Charge Pump that
pumps the crude into the Crude Storage Tanks, to the process unit. 6 numbers of pumps are
operating in parallel. The crude discharged from the main crude charge pumps splits into
three parallel streams, flowing into crude preheat trains (CPHT) A, B and C to pick up heat
in each train and recombine before entering Crude Prefractionator (CPF), at about 180
oC.The CPF has 6 sieve trays in stripping section and 19 valves trays in rectifying section.
In the CPF, gas, naphtha are separated from the bottom products consisting of kerosene and
higher boiling materials. CPF bottoms (reduced crude) is drawn and preheated by Pipestill
Furnaces in parallel, before being fed to Atmospheric Pipestill Tower.
The preheated Prefractionator Bottoms is then split into two streams, each feeding a
pipestill furnace. About 33% of the total furnace feed is channeled to F-1007 while the rest
will go to F-1001. F-1001 consists of a separate radiant and an Outboard Convection
Section (OBCS). The radiant section has PMA-18R John Zink burners with central air inlet

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plenum which is fitted with multi-louvered air control damper. Each burner is provided
with an electric ignition pilot. The Sweet Gas/ LPG is used as fuel for the pilot. The F-1007
is a Vertical Cylindrical (VC) furnace with its own independent convection section, radiant
section and furnace-supported stack. The furnace fired vertically from the floor, features
both radiant and convection sections. The radiant section consists of two-pass tube oil that
is disposed in a vertical arrangement along the walls of combustion chamber.
There are 12 convection section rows of tube coils that are arranged as a horizontal bank of
tubes positioned above the combustion chamber. The preheated and partially vaporized
Reduced Crude from these two furnaces then form a single stream, feeding into the flash
zone of the Atmospheric Pipestill Tower, T-1023.The APS is made up of fractionation
zones, pumparounds, wash zone and stripping section. The tower has 34 trays, consisting of
sieve and jet trays, with 4 trays in the stripping section and 30 trays in the rectifying
section. APS feed enters the tower at the flash zone. Stripping steam is injected into the
APS tower. Two sidestream strippers are provided to achieve the desired removal of light
materials from the sidestream products. Kerosene, Light Diesel Oil (LDO), Heavy Diesel
Oil (HDO) and Atmospheric Bottoms are the products drawn off from the tower.
The tower overhead is partially condensed in the crude preheat exchangers, E-1001C and
E-1001D. The condensed liquid is partially returned to the tower top tray as an external
reflux by Kerosene Hydrofiner (KHF), R-3002 Feed pumps P-3002/ P-3003/ P-3004. The
balance of the liquid product is routed to KHF. The uncondensed vapor will be recycled
back to CPF. The hydrotreated Kerosene is later sent to the Kerosene Stripper. T-3012 to
strip off Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and light hydrocarbons with 125psig superheated stream.
The overhead liquid product is wild naphtha while the vapor distillate is directed to the fuel

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gas system. These steam stripped bottoms is then cooled and routed to storage as finished
products, namely Regular and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK).Two sidestreams from the
APS namely LDO and HDO are produced. The LDO and HDO are later sent to their
respective strippers. The LDO Stripper, T-1024 ia a simple four tray tower, which is
designed to strip off light hydrocarbons from LDO, one of the APS sidestreams is with
310kPag superheated steam. The stripped out vapor is then returned to APS. The bottom
product from the strippers is then cooled and blended with HDO, which underwent the
same process using HDO Stripper, T-1025 before being routed to storage as a finish
product, namely Automotive Diesel Oil (ADO).
The steam stripped bottoms is drawn off by APS Bottoms Pumps. The Atmospheric
Bottom is then cooled through the Atmospheric Bottoms Circuit before being partially
recycled to the upstream of the CPF where it is combined with the preheated crude. The
balance forms the APS Bottoms rundown which is then further cooled through the crude
preheat exchangers before being routed to storage as finished product namely Low Sulfur
Waxy Residue (LSWR).The overhead offgas from the CPF at earlier stage will be fed to
the Crude Gas Booster Compressor, C-1306. The gas pressure is boosted to 275kPag and
then fed to the Crude Gas Compressor, C-1206. Gas discharged from C-1206 at 1310kPag
is then routed to the Crude Gas LPG Absorber, T-1016. Feed gas enters T-1016 and flows
up the tower, counter current to the lean oil (absorption liquid from Debutanizer bottom).

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The off gas from T-1016 overhead are C1/C2 while the LPG rich oil is pumped to the
Naphtha Hydrofiner for subsequent LPG recovery in T-2021.The overhead Naphtha from
the CPF is treated in the Naphtha Hydrofiner R-2001A and R-2001B for sulphur reduction
and then sent to the Crude Light Ends Unit (CLEU) for LPG and Naphtha products
recovery. In CLEU operation, 2 main processes involved are recovery of liquids through
absorption and purification of the liquid mixture via fractionation or stabilization. The LPG
rich absorption oil from T-1016 combined with flow from D-2070 and then is sent to
Absorber Deethanizer, T-2020. After the LPG is recovered, the lean gas is mainly being let
down to the Fuel Gas Drum, OSD-8003, to maintain the tower pressure. The remainder is
sent to Kerosene Hydrofiner as treat.
The absorber Deethanizer contains 24 valve trays. This tower is designed to remove
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and light gases such as H2 and C2 from the hydrofined Naphtha.
The LPG rich gas (strip gas) enters the tower and the liquid feed which contains
Hydrofined Naphtha and LPG rich oil enter above the LPG rich gas. Absorber Deethanizer
overhead is a single drum system designed for total reflux. The overhead product is routed
as sale gas while the bottom product is fed to Naphtha Debutanizer, T-2021.Naphtha
Debutanizer is a conventional fractionation tower with single reflux/ distillate drum system
and a bottom reboiler. Heat for reboilling of the Debutanizer Bottoms in the Debutanizer
reboiler (E-2149) is provided by the APS BPA (Bottom Pump Around). The overhead
distillate is drawn off as LPG and the bottom product is Stabilized Naphtha. The stabilized
naphtha is withdrawn from the tower, which is then cooled through exchangers before
feeding to Naphtha Splitter (T-2022).

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Naphtha Splitter is a conventional fractionation tower with single reflux/ distillate drum
system and a bottom reboiler. Heat for reboiling the Splitter Bottoms in the Naphtha
Splitter reboiler (E-2162) is provided by the APS Bottoms Pumparound (BPA). The tower
is designed to split whole Naphtha into Pentane as overhead product, Light Virgin Naphtha
(LVN) as sidestream product and Heavy Virgin Naphtha (HVN) as bottom product.
Pentane is later on used as a component at the high-octane blending unit. LVN is then
cooled through water before routing to Mogas blending or storage. HVN on the other hand
is fed to Powerformer Feed Surge Tower (T-2017). The Powerformer Feed Surge Tower
provides hold up time up to 10 minutes for the Naphtha splitter’s bottom product before
feeding to the Powerformer.
After the LPG has been produced, it has to undergo certain processes. Firstly, it will be
channeled to LPG/MEA Scrubber, T-8010 to undergo Monoethanolamine (MEA)
treatment to remove acidic components, H2S and acid gases from the LPG stream. MEA is
used because they form basic solutions when mixed with water and chemically enhance the
absorption of H2S and acid gases in aqueous solution. The LPG stream is intimately
contacted with the lean amine solution of 3.5~40wt% concentration. The treated LPG
stream, which has a low acid gas content, flows overhead from the top of the absorber
tower and further treated with caustic and water. The solution leaving the bottom of the
absorber tower is rich of H2S and will be routed back to the MEA Regeneration Unit. The
LPG is further treated with caustic washing to remove any remnant of hydrogen sulfide
(H2S). The LPG is passed through two pairs of mixers which caustic is recirculated by the
Caustic Wash Pumps, D-8033. The LPG is then separated from the caustic in the Caustic
Wash Pumps. The LPG is then washes with water through another pair of Mixers. The

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water is provided by the Wash Pumps, which is taking suction from the Refinery Services
Water Line. The LPG and water is separated in the Water Wash Drum (D-8087). The water
is routed to the Sour Water Disengaging Drum while the LPG is routed to the LPG
Coalescer, where entrained water is knocked off before running down to the storage
spheres.

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CHAPTER 2
WORK CULTURE
 Occupational Health and Safety
Safety Regulation
Safety is number one priority in PDR. Each and every task planned is to be completed with
safety as top priority. Safety enforcement in PDR begins from management down to all
employees. Below is the corporate vision for loss prevention:
 Nobody Gets Hurt
 Management is highly committed and actively involved as leaders to achieve this
goal.
 Workforce is convinced that all injuries are preventable. This way employee would
be inclined to practice safety in their daily working job.
 Individuals accept personal accountability for their own safety. Employees are all
educated with safety practices and that they are responsible for their decision and
action.
 Individuals are willing and able to intervene to ensure the safety of others. PDR
emphasized on the importance to intervene in a scenario (which according to
employees’ judgment) might risk the personnel involve in that situation, and also to
other employees.
 Safety is a value. The objective is to lead to long term safety performance. Safety
should not be described as priority, since priority of a company changes over time,

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but values does not. Safety is a mindset and an attitude for every employee, and
must be considered as core value installed in each part of an organization, part of
the overall business culture.
 Protect Tomorrow Today
 PDR is working hard to deliver superior supervision of operation in concern of its
impact to the environment
 The company is implementing action on a global basis to improve efficiency,
reduce emissions, and also develops technologies which offer solutions for
environmental issues in the long run.
Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd also practices Loss Prevention System
(LPS). LPS is a system to prevent or reduce incidents by using behavior-based tools
and proven safety management techniques. Seven LPS tools & techniques include:
 Safe Performance Self-Assessment (SPSA).
 Job Safety Analysis (JSA).
 Root Cause Analysis Flow Chart (RCAF).
 Loss Prevention Observation (LPO).
 Near-Loss Investigation (NLI).
 Loss Investigation (LI).
 Stewardship

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Figure 6: Loss Prevention System (LPS)
Safety is the number one prioritized item in doing any projects or maintenance work in
PETRON. Frequent exposure and application of safety training has familiarize the workers
with Safe Performance Self-Assessment (SPSA) to analyze the hazard that can encounter
during working, Loss Prevention Observation (LPO) where the workers awareness of the
safety procedures can be observed and U-see U-act (UCUX) where any unsafe act or
condition at site can be identified and informed to the responsible team. While performing
tasks at site, the workers adhered with plant’s rules to conduct the projects safely and wear
suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety helmet, safety shoes, full Fire
Retardant Coverall (FRC), safety glass, earplugs, gloves and body harness. PETRON has
also provided safety briefing at the first day before entering the site.

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Figure 7: Basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Port Dickson Refinery
Safe personal conduct should be strictly observed. Everyone should always identify
safe escape routes in case of any emergency. Entry to locations other than the work
area is only allowed with the permission from the right authority. Taking shortcuts,
for example, walking on storage tank bund walls and crossing pipe bunds are
strictly not allowed.

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TRAINING PROVIDED
Throughout the internship duration, the author managed to attend few training such as
Safety Briefing, Safety Talk, Basic Life Support Awareness (BLSA) training, and HAZOP
meeting.
 Safety Briefing
This briefing which conducted on every Monday at 9am is compulsory for all
individual entering the area where the production process and the store of products
take place (Onsite and Offsite). Firstly, they will be given simple briefing conducted
by Safety Engineer from the Safety, Health and Environment (SH&E) department.
After that, there will be a short video on safety rules and regulations that needs to be
followed while working on site. Once the video finished, the audience will be given
chance to ask on any unclear matters regarding the safety issues. Next, a simple short
test will be given and in order to pass, it needs to be 100% correct. Otherwise, they
will be considered as fail and need to retake the briefing on the following week.
 Safety Talk
This safety talk is conducted each month by different presenter that has been chosen
for that particular month. Firstly, there will be a safety presentation on any topics
concerning safety, health and environment. After that, the previous month LPO and
JSA will be reviewed during the briefing. This LPO is about one observer will observe
what the observee does and to eliminate unsafe conditions before safety hazards or
citable conditions occur. Meanwhile, for the JSA is actually one of the risks
assessment tools used to identify and control workplace hazards

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 Weekly Routine
 Data extraction from data visualization software for LPG and EssoGas
 Pumping report
 Daily Yield Monitoring
 Data extraction for KHF and NHF
 Safety schedule setup for Petron
 Extract for crude types and draw graph using excel(tapis,condy,cendor and etc)
 Plant visit
 Mr ariff assigned the author to get a copy of the Piping and Instrumentation
Diagram (P&ID) of the Water Tank System for Tank 9000 (TK9000) and visited
TK9000 to check the drawing and compared it to the real instrumentations.
Followed Mr.Ariff to plant to visit tank 9000 for line tracing of the water tank
system which author have to draw the P&ID for water tank system.
 Plant visit with Mr Ching to the waste storage for labelling and recording the data
of spent material to send for recovery in German.
 Had a visit to heat exchanger,furnace,cooler fin.Heat exchanger(shell and tube and
u-tube been used),APS tower,drum,cleaning tube method,how they lifting heat
exchange for cleaning purpose.Author experienced the removal of bundle from heat
exchanger for cleaning purpose and also using cable wire at the start of pulling the
buddle using budle puller(crane which is 200 tan weight)

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COMPANY SOP
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is step-by-step and detailed information for
engineers on how they should execute a task or a project. SOP can increase efficiencies and
consistency of project execution. Besides, it is implemented to control hazard where
hazards are removed completely from the workplace. Then followed substitution whereby
hazardous materials are changed with non-hazard materials. The process and operation
must be planned in the best possible way with support from the administration and a safe
work behavior. Lastly, the use of personal protective equipment is also one of the ways for
hazard control although it is the least effective method.
However, there is a possibility where even after using all the methods to control
hazards, the hazards cannot be eliminated completely and some elements of risk remain.
This is where the safe work system of each individual company comes in action to ensure
that hazards are eliminated and the risk minimized. In PETRON, some of the safe work
systems present are the use of permit to work (PTW), confined space entry (CSE), job
safety analysis (JSA), lockout & tag out (LOTO), hazardous area classification, and safety
critical equipment.PTW is a means of formally transferring the responsibility from area
owner to receiving party. It is designed to assist all personal contractor and staff working at
hazardous area to comply with safe working procedures. PTW has the purpose to
communicate any risk involved and the precautions within group operations, maintenance,
contractors, and other involved parties. It is also used to record the procedures of any work
to be performed. This is to ensure the operating facility personnel aware of all works being
carried out in the facility. There are two types of PTW which are Cold Work where the

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work does not produce any sparks or open fire and Hot Work where the works to be carried
out will produce sparks or open fire.
Confined space is defined any enclosed or substantially:
 Enclosed space that is atmospheric pressure
 Not designed primarily as a place of work
 Have potentially harmful level of contaminants
 Have oxygen excess or deficiency
 Cause engulfment
 Have restricted means of entry or exit
Confined space entry system consists of three responsibility persons. The first is the entrant
who is the person who will physically enter the confined space to perform any activity. The
second one is the hole watcher who is the standby person and stationed outside the
confined space. The last one is the entry supervisor who supervises and coordinates
CSE.For entrants that are required to enter CS, they must have the proper PTW done before
any activities could be carried out. They are two types of PTW which are Type A where the
entry into CS had completely isolated, cleaned, and well ventilated and Type where Life
Support System is used and Rescue equipment and Team are in full alert. Another safe
work system implemented by SRCPD is the JSA. It is a process which analyses jobs from a
safety perspective in order to generate potential hazards and control options for each
hazard.

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There are four main action areas for JSA mainly selection jobs for JSA, team selection,
implementing JSA, and recording. JSA is appropriate for any task where the hazards and
control measures need to be formally assessed including:
 Routine tasks
 New jobs
 Jobs not frequently done
 Changes in job procedure
 High risk activities
 Works that conflict with other activities in the same location
 Commissioning of new operation
In all these jobs JSA is done to ensure that the workers are aware with the hazards so that
the jobs can be done safely and properly. Another from that, LOTO (energy isolation) is a
work system that is proposed as a systematic way of controlling energy. In order to ensure
the safety of employees and contractors, energy sources isolation has a minimum
requirement so any unexpected and unintentional startup or release of stored and residual
energy can be done before any unwanted and unintended incident occur. One of the rules of
LOTO is that no equipment will service and maintained until all energy is isolated and
brought to zero level to prevent harm or death of staff and contractors. LOTO uses energy
isolating device which is a mechanical device that will physically prevent the transmission
and release of energy such as electrical circuit breakers, isolation valves, blinds, and other
devices to block energy. After the energy is isolated a tag out device is securely fastened to

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the device to inform all parties that maintaining and service of the device is underway and
the device cannot be operated until the tag out device is removed.
Different critical job have its own SOP. When performing a critical work such as dealing
with H2S, employee must follow the SOP where in the SOP stated that use the breathing
apparatus set handling with H2S. This is to make sure the employee work in safe condition.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
a) Team Work
Teamwork is very essential to ensure continual success in any type of organization.
Generally, performing work in a team will yields in higher efficiency compared to task
execution on individual basis. Implementation of this type of working style can help a lot in
bringing outstanding result toward the job planned. The contribution from each team
members is crucial in ensuring the job that has been discussed and planned is running
smoothly without facing any hiccup. Therefore, commitment, discipline and team work are
the most important elements in order to strengthen the bonding of each members.
PETRON staffs have a very good teamwork among themselves. This is because it is the
job’s nature that required high level of commitment between each staffs. Daily work
associated activities require communication between employees. Thus, teamwork is highly
needed between the organization to ensure smooth handover of task and smooth execution
of task.

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b) Work Ethics
Hard work and diligence are considered as work ethics. Work ethics can also include the
positive attributes in workplace. Ethics are the most crucial element especially to avoid
conflict of interest. High ethics in employees is one of the assurances that the company is
recruiting the right and potential employees that are able to give their full commitment and
loyal to the company.Absence of work ethics will lead to serious circumstances. For
example, supplying off-spec products, conflict of interest, sexual harassment, and selling
product at higher price than it should. This unethical and irresponsible act will result to
business failure and bad reputation for the company. In Petron Malaysia Refining &
Marketing Bhd., all employees also practices honesty, integrity and respect for all human
being. Unhealthy activities like bribery are highly prohibited in PETRON. In other words,
professionalism is required in every PETRON employees to uphold the values. For the
working hours, it is more flexible in PETRON PDR which starting from 8.00 am until 5.15
pm from Monday until Thursday and for Friday, from 8.00 am until 4.45 pm

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WORK EXPERIENCE
Skills gained
Author manages to gain knowledge and skills acquisitions during this first 14 weeks
internship training at Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd. It gives the author
exposure into what real working environment is all about. The skills of understanding the
objective of a task, finishing the task or projects at the required deadline, communicating
with engineers and technicians as well as learning advance technology in refinery plus
ability to solve problems and handling challenges are among the priceless experiences to
the author in this refinery. Author assists the engineers by doing the following task:
1. Yield Monitoring
Objective: To see the difference between the Refinery Run Plan (RRP) and the actual daily
yield from the refinery. A percent of oil losses is done at the end of every week to see the
oil losses and compare it with Monthly Refinery Oil Loss. The Monthly Refinery Oil Loss
is used for yield prediction but in actual yield we will see lower loss.
Percent of Oil Losses :
𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒−𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡
𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒

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2. CPF/APS Monitoring
To monitor the statistical value (minimum, mean, maximum, 95% percentile), the latest
value or comparison value at a specified period for each unit flow rate, temperature and
pressure also the yields.The mode is set at Real Time Monitoring (RTM) Mode first. Then,
the desired value will update at each unit according to the Desired View Type that we set.
From this monitoring sheet, we also can view the chart and also trend lines.
Figure 8 : CPF/APS Monitoring

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Figure 10: Trend plots of CPF overhead pressure
3. MEA/LPG troubleshooting
To troubleshoot why the Design Pressure of D-8018 is increasing very fast after start up in
early Sept 2014 by doing trend plots for each unit in the MEA/LPG Treating operation.
The LPG/MEA Scrubber, T-8010 is designed to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from the
LPG. The hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and acid gases in the LPG are absorbed by MEA. The
treated LPG flows overhead from the top of the Absorber tower and treated further with
caustic and water before routing to the storage as LPG. The solution leaving at the bottom
of the tower, Rich MEA, is treated to remove the absorbed H2S at the MEA Regeneration
Unit.

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Figure 9 : MEA/LPG Treating
4. Hydraulic calculation
Hydraulic calculations are a practice within the fire safety industry of determining the flow
of liquids through a medium (usually a piping network) to ensure that fires can be adequately
controlled. Hydraulic calculations are often required to prove the flow of water (or water
mixed with additives like firefighting foam concentrate) through piping networks for the
purpose of suppressing or extinguishing a fire. The full hydraulic calculation procedure is
defined in the applicable reference model codes such as published by NFPA (National Fire
Protection Association). Hydraulic calculations provide a verifiable analysis of the 3 primary
components of a fire suppression system
 The water delivery requirements to suppress a possible fire
 The available water supply
 The network of piping that will deliver this water in the event of a fire.

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5. Loss Prevention Observation (LPO) November
To learn on how to do the LPO and review the Job Safety Analysis (JSA). Author gets the
knowledge of importance of LPO and JSA in the workplace. The purpose of the LPO is to
reduce loss, identify questionable items and reinforce positive behaviors. Author acts as the
observer and other trainee from PE Department acts as the observee. Before performing the
task, the observer has to review the JSA first and then the observee do the task while being
observed by observer
Positive comments:
 Good housekeeping
 Regulary stretch after use computer for so long
 Close cabinet and drawers after use
Questionable items:
 Eyes so near to PC
 Need to bend down to plug in computer
Recommended actions after discussing with the supervisor, Mr. Gunaraj who is also the
main person for PE department:
1) Provide feedbacks after done the task.
2) Ask to refer the job safety analysis before carry out the task
Please refer the LPO form is attached in the appendices.

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6. Communication, Listening and Writing Skills
In working life, communication skills are important especially when it comes to deal with
clients and staffs. The basis of communication lies in the ability to transfer and receive
information effectively while language is the medium to communicate. Other than that, the
author also learned on how to communicate using emails. Emails are one of the most
efficient medium to communicate apart from phone calls. Any invitation, requests or
approval given through email are easier to be understood and clearer when it is delivered.
Formal emails have its own writing format and must be written properly with clear
message and main ideas. For example, an invitation is send to inform the staffs in PEC
Department about the Monthly Safety Talk by one of the process engineer, Mr.
Lingeswara K Shanmugalingam.Besides that, the author also improvises writing skill
from daily logbook and written report. This is very crucial as a preparation for author’s
final year report. Also, during briefing on task or discussion, it is very important to give full
attention and being attentive to the instructions so that the task will be done correctly.

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7. Time Management
In Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd., time is an essence. Effective time
management will increase productivity and quality on performance and task so that the
author will be having more sufficient time to produce high quality work and indirectly
reduce stress and anxiety level.As a PETRON trainee that assists engineer’s tasks, time
management is very important. Task allocation is one of the keys in order to be a
professional engineer in the future. Thus, if there any task is given, the author managed to
allocate between one task and another so that the execution of tasks will be running
smoothly.The first thing that the author did is making a list which it is actually very helpful
in term of refreshing author’s memory. Also, it will keep author updated with which task
should be prioritized. List will keep author aware which action should be done to ensure
that none of the task will be missed out during executing task.
8. Initiative
Throughout this first phase of internship, there were many challenging circumstances faced
by author. Author needs to train herself to take extra initiative and keep the spirit of
learning. The working environment is totally different and unpredictable compared to
university environment. Author needs to keep aware of time, more friendly with
department’s staffs and become more proactive in decision making.There are also many
tasks that author herself need to be more independent. Certain tasks require the author to
work with other engineers in order to come up with the solutions. Hence, the author needs
to take the initiative to seek and learn technical and other soft skills with other engineers to
increase the knowledge and understanding of the tasks.

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People often involved in author’s tasks are mainly process engineers, Mr. Md Rais Amin
Md Ramly and Mr. Lingeswara K Shanmugalingam. Not only them, author also makes
her own initiative to approach engineers to seek help and ask opinion from other
department especially Mr Ariff and Miss Logeswary from Process Engineering
Department and Mr. Kim from Process Department(APS). Even though they are very busy
with their work, but they are really helpful whenever any question being asked to them.It is
really a good opportunity for having internship in refining company. Unfortunately, author
cannot simply enter the plant without supervision from any process engineers. Thus, the
author take initiative to follow any process engineer to go to the site to obtain exposure on
plant environment as well as to get exposure on the laboratory and workshop which also
located in plant.

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KNOWLEDGE
Safety Knowledge
Process safety plays an important role to ensure plant operates in a safe and secure manner.
In Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd., there will be monthly safety talk which
will be discussing on safety matters. Also, there will be a review on LPO and JSA for the
previous month. Being assigned by Mr. Lingeswara K Shanmugalingam, author learned
on how to conduct the Loss Prevention Observation (LPO) and how to review the Job
Safety Analysis (JSA). Besides that, in Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd., the
employees are really being emphasized with Loss Prevention System (LPS) and Safe
Performance Self-Assessment (SPSA) during working as well as U-See-U-Act (UCUX)
which the author can identified any unsafe act or condition at site and informed to the
responsible team. Other than that, author also gets exposure on HAZOP meeting and Risk
Assessment regarding the APS Improvement Project which the type of degree of severity
hazard that has potential probability of occurrence of a particular event are identified.

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Figure 10: Loss Prevention System (LPS) and Safe Performance Self-Assessment (SPSA)
Technical knowledge
Author had gained some knowledge regarding on how to make decision when it comes to
technical work. For example, author had been assigned a task by process safety engineer,
Mr. Md Rais Amin Md Ramly. For this task, author needs to find the correct increment of
set pressure to the operating pressure based on the EXXONMOBIL Design Practices of
Pressure Relief with a datasheet been given. After knowing the new operating pressure at
the pump, author needs to find whether the new set pressure at the pressure safety valve is
applicable by reading through the Design Practices. Another task given by him is also to
find the correct design practices for unfired pressure vessels and also piping. However, to
know correct design practice for piping, author must know on how to read the piping in
P&ID. Hence, author met with Mr. Ariff from Process Engineering Department to learn

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about piping class. Along the consultation, Mr. Ariff also taught author on how to read
P&ID diagram as well as in determining the specifications of the pipe. Author also got the
engineering knowledge by doing routine and immediate task assigned by the supervisor. As
for example, for MEA/LPG Trending task, author got the technical knowledge by
understanding the function of Monoethanolamine (MEA) which is to remove H2S from
LPG stream. Author will not just do the task but author also got to understand the
objectives and outcomes of doing the task to get the knowledge.
Understanding job requirement
Being an internship student at Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd. makes the
author to develop vast experiences and knowledge that are not being thought at the
university. Author started to work independently whenever any tasks given to her. Thus,
author needs to have own initiative in order to solve any tasks given. Apart of that, to
ensure the accuracy of the details in data, the author needs to understand that conducting
the discussion with engineer is important.

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Completing task given on time
Every task required different period of time to be completed. The abilities to manage time
are very important as every project requires to be completed before the dateline given. As
an intern, the author required to complete the task given by the supervisor within the
dateline given by supervisor. In order to complete the task, the author needs to develop her
own knowledge and gain experiences by asking the professionals and executives in the
department to work on the task. On the other hand, the author needs to complete a full case
study or report for justification on what the author gained throughout the Industrial
Training period.
DISCUSSION ON SUSTAINABILITY
 Environmental
It is really important to protect and preserve the natural environment, and to promote the
health, safety and security of the community, customers, suppliers, contractors, and
PETRON people as well. This commitment is a key to the long term sustainability of
business and governs the way it is being operated. This company also initiated efforts to
optimize the use of resources for example water, fuel, power and materials, by measuring
and eventually managing environmental footprints. These initiatives will provide
competitive advantage for PETRON through reduced operating cost and improved
company image without sacrificing compliance to legal requirements.

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As for example, the gas flare system in the refinery is an installation which safely and
environmentally treats waste gas released during unplanned over pressuring of plant
equipment. Related to this, PETRON has made significant progress in reducing gas flaring
from operations and still continue to be committed to reduce flaring wherever technically
and commercially feasible. Other than that, during SHE Week and 50th PETRON
Anniversary, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd. Have done safety talk. In
addition, PETRON employees believe that compliance with safety regulations and planning
for excellence in personal safety, industrial hygiene, environmental performance and
operation of the refinery will ensure PETRON is a safe and secure workplace. PETRON
upholds the highest standards of safety and health performance in the areas where it being
operated. Since 1998, PETRON terminals have accumulatively received 45 gold and 1
Silver Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH) Awards. This
recognition motivates to keep up the good work and continue to be excellence in health,
safety and environment.
 Economical
It has been only more than 2 years since PETRON broke the ground in Malaysia and there
are many competitors that offered the same products and services in the market. Therefore,
PETRON Malaysia needs to be more intelligent, creative and innovative to find ways or
other alternatives in order to be more competitive and relevant in the market. PETRON
always looking to the cost effective ways possible by reducing and minimizing oil spillage
to sewer and still execute top performance in the products and services which gives an edge
over the other competitor.

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 Political and cultural dimensions
PETRON acts in a socially responsible manner and comply with the law of the country to
take care of legitimate commercial objectives. This company does not make and payments
to political party, organizations and party politics. Besides that, PETRON employees who
wish to join political activities such as standing for election to the public will be given an
opportunity to do so. In terms of culture, PETRON is a global multinational company that
employs workers from all over the world. Malay, Chinese, Indians, Ethnics and foreigners
are employed as expected to work together. Togetherness and teamwork are the key
elements that overcome the racial and religious gap between employees. PETRON is a very
unique because of the diversity and cultural dimension.

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CONCLUSION
The first 14 weeks period of industrial internship program has finally come to an end.
During the internship period, author had been given the opportunity to exercise theoretical
knowledge gained in the university in real application in industry. This exposure has
improved author management skills and also at the same time sharpened the technical skill
which has been gained throughout handling the task assigned. The author also has become
much more matured and capable to learn what actually their interest in the industry is. This
will further help the author to choose their specialization in her final year.Some of the task
requires author to schedule the time wisely since many tasks need to be delivered faster and
must commit before the deadline is reached. These aspects are the most important lesson
learnt by author herself, which require physically and mentally strong to face the real
challenge and to learn a lot of new things and knowledge that are not available in
university.In conclusion, PETRON has offered a full exposure about working in the
industry. With conducive environment, friendly staff and proper facilities, it allows and
further motivates students to gain as much knowledge and experiences as possible. This has
allowed the students to achieve the objectives of the industrial internship program
successfully.

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RECOMMENDATION
Extend period of internship. MIU should extend this internship for six months to eight
months(6 month – 8 month) of training as most of other university offers a maximum of 7
months training . This long period of training provide the students a better platform for
them to experience the working life as well as more time to learn things. Therefore, they
will be more expose and will perform better when comes to working life in future.MIU just
providing 3 months which not enough exposure to real working field and this short period
make the student to learn half of the real working experiences compared to other university
which providing more than 6 months
REFERENCES
1. PDR Operating Manual – Onsite/Offsite
2. EXXONMOBIL Design Practices
3. PETRON Data Visualization (DV)
4. About Petron Port Dickson Refinery (2014). Retrieved Nov 28,
2014 from http://www.petron.com.my/web/site/slider/20

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APPENDICES
Figure 14 : LPO form that author acts as observer

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Figure 15 : The score for the LPO is 85% which is considered as safe.
(Safe is above 70%)