BRUNEI Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd celebrated the 80th anniversary of its establishment with a momentous working visit yesterday morning from the benevolent ruler.
Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Dewa Dato Seri Setia Lim Jock Seng Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II as Chairman of BSP/BLNG/BST/BSM in his welcoming remarks said BSP, from its humble beginnings in 1929, has become one of Asia’s biggest energy companies with production of more than 370,000 barrels of oil and gas equivalent every single day.
The minister also highlighted new production that has also come on-stream from the Mampak field in May and Bugan soon and with BSP just starting activities in deep water, the exploration work will continue to extend the oil and gas reserves.
BSP’s most important achievement is being the economic engine of the nation and its success is sustained by deep mutual respect and trust between His Majesty’s Government and Shell, he said.
“Together, they have provided the guidance, resources, stability and total commitment for BSP through some very testing times. The road ahead will bring new and even greater challenges: harder-to-access resources, environmental pressures and more intense competition in global energy markets. I am very pleased to say that the people of BSP fully understand the scale of these challenges and are pursuing new programmes to secure the business in the future,” the minister said.
Representing the Royal Dutch Shell, Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser, in his speech, underscored the strong partnership with His Majesty’s government, which led to the sustained success of BSP over 80 years.
He noted that BSP was one of the very first joint venture partnerships in the Shell Group and has always served as a model on how they should be operated.
“It is easy for an international oil joint venture company to say the right things about maximising local expertise, applying technology, maintaining safety and supporting the community. However, actually delivering on all of those commitments year-on-year is incredibly challenging, and is anything but easy.
“Yet, BSP has an exemplary record and indeed sets the pace in these areas. Without fuss or fanfare, the exceptional team at BSP diligently removed all the barriers and made things happen,” he underscored.
The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell also has the opportunity to observe many BSP’s commercial and operational achievements first-hand and proud to see the see cutting-edge Shell technologies being applied so successfully.
He further highlighted the remarkable achievement of Bugan, which he dubbed as a huge, world-class engineering project being delivered a year ahead of schedule within the budget and safely — without any single injury during the execution of the project. Bugan has now been completed to the highest standards.
He is also impressed with BSP work to improve the efficiency across the business by eliminating waste and reducing costs and such great successes are the culmination of many years of sustained commitment and significant financial investment in Brunei. A highly-skilled workforce and local contractor base have been established in what has become a thriving local oil and gas industry.
The years ahead will see BSP take on its biggest challenges yet as it moves into deeper water, and even more complex reservoirs in shallow water and onshore, he noted. At the same time, world energy and commercial markets are likely to become more volatile.
However he pledged to commit 100 per cent of its global expertise and capabilities to support BSP through these changes and the people here can count on complete support from the global Shell network – whether it be scientific expertise, operational and business know-how, commercial leverage or support on health, safety and the environment.
As other oil companies decided that it was not worth pursuing opportunities in Brunei in the 1920s, Shell has remained loyal to Brunei and went on to help develop the country’s wealth of resources, he said.
Managing Director of BSP Dr Grahaeme Henderson, in his speech, recounted BSP’s historical journey 80 years ago with the first commercial oil discovery in Brunei. BSP has built a long-term track record as a “company of firsts”, leading the global industry in many areas.
“Our engineers have consistently invented new drilling techniques to access Brunei’s complex underground reservoirs. This includes ‘fish-hook’ wells to reach subsea reservoirs from the land, and “snake wells” that weave several kilometres underground to access small pockets of oil and gas. BSP has also pioneered Shell’s “smart technologies” which allows us, in real time, to monitor and control from this head office where we sit today, our offshore operations that are located many kilometres away.”
He underscored that together, they have built a dynamic, world-class operation that spans more than 200 land and offshore structures linked by over 2000 kilometres of pipeline, recovering oil and gas from 4,700 reservoirs and producing through 750 wells.
In 80 years, BSP has produced an impressive six billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent and continues to be an important supplier to world markets, the BSP Managing Director said in highlighting the achievements.
Its continued investment in leading-edge technologies will enable BSP to sustain the successful long-term development of oil and gas resources in Brunei, he added.
To mark the significant milestone, BSP launched a community campaign called ‘Brunei Tell-A-Friend’ to help improve safety on the roads.
Through the campaign in a bid to make Brunei’s road the safest in the world, it first asks everyone in Brunei to comply with the rules and also to tell their family and friends to do the same.
“Someone knows that person is not wearing the seatbelt, or the person is speeding, or using a mobile phone when driving. Working together, we can help improve driving habits and make a major difference to everyone in Brunei; he stressed.
“Although we in BSP have developed the thinking behind Tell-A-Friend and undertaken a very successful trial amongst our staff, the campaign will not be owned by BSP. Instead, it will pull together organisations from both the private and public sector, to work together, as one team, to jointly adopt the campaign,” he said.
