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Additional Mathematics Project Work 1 2011

Malaysia's Petronas finds new energy fields offshore Sarawak


Reuters - Monday, February 14, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 - Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas said on Monday it has
discovered new oil and gas fields through the drilling of NC3 and Spaoh-1 wells in Blocks
SK316 and SK306 in offshore Sarawak state.

It said drilling of the NC3 wildcat well[1] and a subsequent appraisal well[2] brought
significant discovery in Block SK316 with early estimation of 2.6 trillion standard cubic feet
of net gas in place.

The Spaoh-1 well of 3,000 meters drilling depth, located in Block SK306 was drilled in
December 2010 and an early evaluation showed around 100 million barrels of oil and 0.2
trillion standard cubic feet of gas in place, respectively, it said.

"In the next three years, over 50 exploration wells[3] are expected to be drilled offshore
Malaysia by Petronas and its production sharing contractors," Petronas said.

"These activities, especially if they result in discoveries, are expected to spur business
opportunities in the oil and gas industry and will promote upstream investment in the
country."

Oil production plays a very significant role in Malaysia’s economic development.


Information above shows the discovery of new oil reserves in Malaysia. Imagine that you are
the leader of a team of professionals, and received a directive to go to the newly installed off-
shore oil rig to perform some tasks. On the way to the oil rig, your team needs to stop by and
does some maintenance job at an offshore wind-farm which provides the energy needs of the
oil rig. The maintenance job takes 2 hours to complete.

Diagram 1 is given to facilitate your task. The arrows show the suggested route. The
locations of sunken treasures and sunken ships are preserved as high security areas which are
out of bound to any approaching ships. The coral reef is the ecologically sensitive area with
many endangered animal and plant species which are protected by the Malaysian Fisheries
Act 1985 (Act 317).

___________________________________________________________________________

1. Wildcat wells are those drilled outside of and not in the vicinity of known oil or gas fields.
2. Appraisal wells are used to assess characteristics (such as flow rate) of proven hydrocarbon
accumulation.
3. Exploration wells are drilled purely for exploratory (information gathering) purposes in new areas.

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Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia
Additional Mathematics Project Work 1 2011

Giant Octopus Offshore oil rig


Sunken treasure

Offshore
windfarm
Thunderstorms as predicted by

Meteorological Department

Sunken ship

Coral reef
North

Shark infested water

Starting position Scale: - 1 unit : 1 km


Diagram 1

PART 1
Suggest two other possible routes and state which route is the best.
Construct a table of comparison between the suggested route and the two other possible
routes. Your table should include:
 Distance
 Bearings
 Coordinates where the course of the boat needs to be changed
 Possible dangers and possibilities of intruding into the preserved and
conservation areas
 Time estimation, assuming that the average speed of your boat is 35 km/hr.

Hence, justify your choice.

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Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia
Additional Mathematics Project Work 1 2011

PART 2
Your team decides to use the suggested route as shown in Diagram 1 and starts the
journey at 10:00 a.m. The team has to reach the oil rig to attend a meeting at 2.00 p.m. on
the same day. Keep in mind that your team needs to stay 2 hours on the offshore wind-
farm to check the wind generation system. There is a sea current flowing from east to
west at a constant speed of 15 km/h. Your boat can travel at a speed of 36 km/h in still
water. Determine the time your team reaches the wind-farm and the oil rig.

PART 3
Given that the power generated by a single wind turbine as shown in Diagram 2 is
proportional to the square of the wind speed u, the surface area of the blade of the wind
turbine A and the machine constant c, i.e. P = cAu2.
The energy E produced in t seconds is given by
t
E   Pdt
0

If your team have obtained the following measurements:

Wind speed = 13 m/s

Surface area of the wind turbine = 10 m2 Diagram 2

Power output = 10 kW

(a) Find the value of the constant c.


(b) Determine how much time is required to generate 50 MJ of energy if
(i) the wind speed is constant at 13 m/s,
(ii) the function of the wind speed is given by u(t) = 0. 02t.

PART 4

Referring to the information given in the news from Reuters on 14 Feb 2011, ‘The
Spaoh-1 well of 3,000 meters drilling depth, located in Block SK306 was drilled in
December 2010 and an early evaluation showed around 100 million barrels of oil…’,
calculate:

(a) the average rate of oil production (in barrels of oil per hour) for the oil well so that
the oil supply could last for 10 years;

(b) the rate of increase in oil level in the barrel, in cm/min, if given that the barrel is a
cylinder with diameter of 0.5 meter and height of 1 meters, and the time taken to fill
up a barrel with oil is 5 minutes.

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Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia
Additional Mathematics Project Work 1 2011

PART 5

Find information on the:

(a) oil production and consumption;


(b) oil imports and exports; and
(c) oil reserves

for major countries around the world. Write a brief report based on your findings. Your report
must include suitable statistical representations.

FURTHER EXPLORATION

Gather further information regarding careers related to the Petroleum Industry which requires
a good foundation in Additional Mathematics by:

(a) interviewing individuals who are in the Petroleum industry, or


(b) surfing the Internet.

Write a report based on your findings.

END OF PROJECT PAPER

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Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia

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