Daniel Lim
TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV marked its historic milestone of 35 years of service in the Sultanate together with His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in a ceremony held at the company’s premises near Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd yesterday morning.
Accompanying His Majesty were His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen.
Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, permanent secretary, Legislative Council members, and representatives from various government and private agencies also attended.
Welcoming His Majesty and members of the royal family were Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, and TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV General Manager Jerome Saniez, with the latter giving a brief speech on the company’s history.
Following the speech, His Majesty signed the plaque, before it was displayed to showcase the seven energies of oil, natural gas, electricity, hydrogen, biomass, wind, and solar that the company specialises in. To mark the occasion, the general manager presented His Majesty a pesambah on behalf of TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV in the form of an acrylic display of the seven energies with the slogan,’Brunei Darussalam embracing Renewable Energies’.
The event also featured a video presentation of greetings by staff members as well as representatives from various government and private agencies congratulating TotalEnergies on its achievements.
This was followed by His Majesty meeting the first batch of TotalEnergies scholars, who have completed their six years of education in France who guided the monarch through the exhibition, ‘History Tunnel – Archive of TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV Achievements’, highlighting the various track records, in country values and outlooks.
His Majesty then boarded a vehicle to tour the onshore processing plant and the central control room.
Earlier, during his speech, Saniez said “TotalEnergies started its operations in Brunei Darussalam in 1987, at that time known as Elf Aquitaine and made its first exploration campaign.
“In 1989, the discovery was made at the Maharajalela (ML) Jamalul Alam Field (Block B). Ten years after the discovery, together with our Block B Joint Venture Partners (Brunei Energy Exploration Sdn Bhd and Shell Deepwater Borneo BV), TotalEnergies started to produce gas from the offshore platforms ML1 and ML2 via the Onshore Processing Plant and to the Brunei LNG plant.
“Since then, TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV has commissioned the Maharajalela South project with the installation of a third platform in 2017, which saw the deepest high-pressure, high-temperature wells ever drilled in the Sultanate.
“Through this project, we had the fabrication of the ML3 platform jacket, proudly made in Brunei, with the involvement of more than 60 young Bruneians from the Energy Industry Competency Framework programme.”
The general manager added that the company has achieved 23 years of continuous operation without any lost time incidents.
He said the company has always been committed to the growth of Bruneians adding that it has a 90-per-cent local workforce and six out of eight members of the executive committee are Bruneians.
“Our staff development programme also continues with four of our local employees on international assignments in our affiliates in France, Norway, Angola and Australia. In addition, we also run an apprenticeship programme, providing opportunities for young local graduates to build their skills and competencies,” he said.
Saniez highlighted TotalEnergies’ aspirations to have more successful operations in the future and be a partner of choice for the nation. “This aligns with Brunei Vision 2035’s Economic Blueprint, where future projects, and activities of TotalEnergies will contribute to people development and employment, economic growth as well as the protection of the environment.”
