JULY 2004

PETRONAS Trans-Sahara cars at MISC

July 27 2004 - Seventeen cars made their way to Port Klang to be stuffed into MISC containers for their journey to Khartoum today. The cars will reach their destination in 16 days, in time for the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 Expedition flag off.

Preliminary preparations underway for Trans-Sahara expedition

July 12 2004 - Members of the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 attended an expedition briefing and car scrutineering on Saturday at the Ford Concessionaires in Petaling Jaya.

It was a gathering of old friends in the 4WD fraternity as well as people who had joined previous PAT expeditions to Silk Road, Siberia and Africa Trek. PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 is the team's sixth international expedition. Four new faces – Mohd Saifuddin and Joyce Simson from PETRONAS and Md Hazli Hassan and Paul Si from Utusan Malaysia and The Star respectively also mingled to get to know the team better.

Forty-five members will embark on the 39-day expedition to Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco on August 30th.

Besides introducing members to the management team and expedition sponsors, the morning briefing also covered trip aspects such as preliminary preparations, camping, the route, border crossings, what to do during a dust storm, security, safety, and health considerations.

Team members were also advised to access the Internet to learn more about the places they would be visiting.

After lunch, Expedition Doctor Khairuddin Mohd Ali, met with each team member to ensure each was fit to travel. At the same time, the cars were being scrutineered by Technical Coordinator Stiven Sim, and his able team of mechanics.

The mechanics inspected the cars to ensure that they fulfilled the PETRONAS Adventure Team’s vehicle requirements for the trip as well as to confirm that the compulsory spare parts were in their cars. Additionally, other must-have items include an auxiliary long range fuel tank, roof rack, complete recovery kit, high lift jack, and a spade.

Three PETRONAS staff members to join Trans-Sahara expedition

July 9 2004 - The PETRONAS Adventure Team’s PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 expedition opens doors to new experiences for many people. As always, three places have been reserved for PETRONAS staff members. Zulkarnain Othman (right) from PETRONAS Motorsports will definitely be going as one of his responsibilities is to conduct on the road research for PETRONAS Syntium. Every 5,000km, oil samples are taken from each vehicle and brought home for analysis.

As for the other two places, PETRONAS gives its staff opportunities to join this adventure of a lifetime. Twelve candidates who were all capable of going were selected for the interview process held at PETRONAS Tower 1 recently.

“We’re looking for the ideal person, someone with extra qualities we can use so that they can contribute to the expedition in a major way,” says Expedition Leader Halim Rahman during a break between interviews.

Halim explains that in last year’s expedition to Africa, they had PETRONAS staff involved in the community relations programme and as a sergeant major. “This trip is more difficult. Straight away we’re camping in the desert and hitting some sand storms in the first few days,” says Halim. “So the criteria are an outgoing person, someone who can adapt to the whole group and the hardships as fast as possible.”

So the chosen two is Mohd Saifuddin Abdullah (left) and Joyce Nesamani Simson (centre). The announcement comes as a surprise for both as they feel that the other candidates are also equally qualified.

Saifuddin, 45, is the Operations Shift Superintendent of Operations in Malaysia Liquified Natural Gas (MLNG), Bintulu, and has been with PETRONAS for 21 years. He says his strength lies in his organisational skills; he has led many 4x4 vehicle trips for MLNG.

Joyce, a Procurement Executive with the Contracting & Procurement Services Department joined PETRONAS three years ago. “I feel extremely privileged and honoured,” says Joyce. She adds that she’ll be doing a lot of reading in preparation for her main duty, which is to maintain a personal journal online.

"For as long as I can remember, I have loved the English Language,” she says. “My hope is that readers would read what I write and wished they were here as well. If I can do that, that would be my greatest contribution.”

PETRONAS Adventure Team picks FORD for official vehicles

July 8 2004 - The Sahara – the very mention of this name conjures up images of a hard land, of a harsh environment where only the toughest survive. The world’s largest desert is an unforgiving place where, for centuries, only the indomitable Tuareg people and their camels could call home. Even today, it is not a place for the weak.

Ford Malaysia was quick to take up the challenge when the PETRONAS Adventure Team (PAT) Malaysia called on modern day Malaysian explorers to embark on the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004, an arduous 39-day, 15,000-km (approximately) odyssey traversing six countries. More...

PETRONAS Adventure Team to embark on Trans-Sahara 2004

July 6 2004 - PETRONAS Adventure Team (PAT), after successfully completing five extremely challenging international outings, yesterday announced its plan to embark on its sixth annual overland expedition, the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 Expedition.

The plan was unveiled at a launch ceremony held at the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park in Petaling Jaya. The launch was officiated by YB Datuk Ong Tee Kiat, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports. Also present was PETRONAS’ Vice President of Logistics and Maritime Business, Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas, PAT’s Expedition Leader Encik Abdul Halim Rahman, and their excellencies, the Ambassadors of Sudan, Libya, Egypt and Morocco.

The 39-day PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 Expedition covering approximately 15,000km will be flagged off in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan on 30th August 2004. From Sudan, it will traverse Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, and will make Casablanca, Morocco, its final destination. The convoy will be made up of 45 members from PAT, traveling in 18 four by four vehicles. The vehicles will be transported to Sudan via ships owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd (MISC), a PETRONAS’ subsidiary. MISC will also be responsible to ship the vehicles back from Morocco.

In his welcome speech, Encik Abdul Halim Rahman remarked, “The PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 stands to be the most challenging by comparison to the rest of the previous trips as most of the time the Team will be camping in the desert, with no water source readily available.”

He added that the Team would have to travel for at least three days to reach each water source point, and therefore would have to bring sufficient water to cater for both members and vehicles for at least a 3-day stretch at any one point of the expedition.

Apart from MISC, the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara 2004 expedition is also supported by other co-sponsors including Ford Malaysia, KUMHO Tires, FUJIFILM and BlueTECH.

Daily updates during the expedition will be available in the PETRONAS Trans-Sahara website at www.petronasadventure.com. The website features the management team, expedition members, route and sponsor information, and messages to and from friends and family.

PAT, a part of the PETRONAS Motorsports family, has previously embarked on five successful expeditions, proudly carrying the PETRONAS and Malaysian flags in countries where the national oil corporation operates. Past adventures included Passage to Tibet in 1999, Indo China in 2000, Silk Road in 2001, Siberia in 2002, and Africa Trek in 2003.