Grand Old Lady of Miri, Sarawak is my photo of the week. This is also the first drilled oil well of Miri which was obtained by Shell and had a remarkable record over 62 years. The oil well had operated almost non-stop from that day in December 1910, when she had first brought into production, until she was closed in 1941 due to the second world war.
During that period, the well had produced 563,484 barrels and was still producing 10 barrels per day. In three and a half years of occupation, Well No.1 wore for only 12 months during which she produced 4,371 barrels. At close, the well still managing to produce 3 barrels of oil a day and when finally stopped, had produced a total of over 650,000 barrels of oil.
For those interested in the oil history of Miri, there is a museum named the Petroleum Museum situated just next to The Grand Old Lady. The museum is open daily, 9am - 5pm and a small admission fee is required. Just next to the oil museum, there is a Bistro called Hazard, which offers food and beverages overlooking Miri town. It is recommended that you double check before going here. There is a Tourist Visitor Center in town too.
To get here, one has to either take a slow long walk or take a taxi (About RM7-10 one way) as there are no bus services available to reach this destination. And don't forget to ask the taxi to wait for you as if he leaves you, there are no taxi's headed back to the city. Miri is a developing city where a number of music festivals are held here, namely the Borneo Jazz Festival and also the Asian Music Festival. Apart from this, Miri serves as a gateway to the Mulu National Park, Niah National Park, the highland villages of Bakelalan and Bario and offers some interesting dive sites for scuba divers.