Since the establishment of Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd joint scholarship programme with Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and Zhejiang University in March 2014, Hengyi has been providing support towards the growth and development of the country’s youth, said the company in a statement.
By providing a capacity building platform for the youth in the oil and gas industry, the company affirmed its commitment towards the Sultanate’s economic development in realising Brunei Vision 2035’s goal of ensuring that the people of Brunei Darussalam are educated, highly skilled and accomplished.
Under Hengyi’s scholarship initiatives, the company established three joint scholarship and collaboration programmes with local and overseas institutions – the UBD and Zhejiang University Joint Scholarship Programme launched in March 2014, the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) and Lanzhou Petrochemical Polytechnic College (LPP) Joint Collaboration Programme launched in March 2018, and the Politeknik Brunei (PB) and LPP Joint Collaboration Programme launched in March last year.
The programmes provide Brunei’s youth the opportunity to enrol in a fully-funded course and gain early working experience through internship at the Petrochemical and Refinery plant. As part of the programme, recipients will also be provided employment opportunities with Hengyi Industries upon completion of their studies.
“As a former (UBD) scholarship student and an employee of Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, I am thankful for the opportunity and experience,” said Suleyha binti Haji Suhaili, currently working as a Market-Contract Support under Hengyi’s Commercial Department. “It is a journey that I can never forget as it has helped me gain valuable knowledge and develop (myself) to become the person I am today.”
One of the first batch of IBTE – LPP graduates Khairul Izzat bin Zaini also expressed how he had a good professional journey since
joining Hengyi. “The years I have been with the company were the most rewarding and best learning years of my career. It is motivating to join a company early in its growth process and I enjoy working here,” he said.
Since the inception of the scholarship and collaboration programmes, over 500 students are under the programmes out of which 111 have completed their studies and have been offered CoE (Conditional of Employment) and started full-time employment at Hengyi Industries.
The scholarship initiative is also part of Hengyi’s effort towards supporting the Bruneianisation directive issued by the Ministry of Energy to produce highly competent Bruneian skilled workers and maximise employment opportunities for Bruneians in the oil and gas industry. As of January, Hengyi has achieved an over 40 per cent localisation rate.
Hengyi has also continued to progress towards the in-country value development where Hengyi collaborated with local businesses to maximise economic spin-offs and create more indirect job opportunities for Bruneians.
Throughout 2021, Hengyi remained in full-load operation even during the second wave of the pandemic. As a result, Hengyi refined approximately 8.8 million tonnes of feedstock which exceeded the designed production capacity of eight million tonnes by 10 per cent and products for both local consumption and overseas export.
While it is important to keep the operations of the plant smooth, Hengyi continues to place the safety and well-being of its employees as the top priority. After entering commercial operation since November 2019, Hengyi has maintained a continuous 27 months of safe operation.
In line with Brunei Darussalam’s National Day theme ‘Menjayakan Wawasan Negara’, Hengyi Industries will remain focussed on opening a path for the current and next generation of youth towards becoming a skilled and accomplished individual while focussing on initiatives to increase its localisation efforts through the creation of more direct and indirect job opportunities for Bruneians, which in turn will contribute towards creating a dynamic and sustainable economy in the country.
