More Local Staff Recruited In BSP's Bruneianisation

Bandar Seri Begawan - Recruiting talented Bruneian staff and developing them further are among the main thrusts of the human resources programme in Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP).

This has resulted in an increase in Bruneian staff in the company to 90% during the past years, with 34 out of 62 leadership positions. (55 per cent) in BSP being held by local Bruneians. This figure is planned to rise further.

Dr Grahaeme Henderson, Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum gave an overview of "Strategies for human resource development in Brunei Shell Petroleum" during the Asialnc Forum Roundtable dialogue, "Developing Brunei Darussalam's human resources to meet the needs of the future".

In his presentation, Dr Henderson described Brunei Shell Petroleum's history and reputation for leading edge technical works being undertaken by Bruneian staff. The technical skills and competences of these personnel are key to the company's current and long term sustained success, he said.

He cited the recent example of local capabilities involved in developing the Champion West project, which successfully pioneered Shell's Smart Field technology, with BSP becoming a global leader. The offshore Champion West platform in 70m of water commenced with record-breaking production.

Champion West was also the heaviest platform ever built in BSP. It is "made in Brunei", having been fabricated in Brunei Shell Petroleum's construction yard.

In terms of technology, Brunei Shell Petroleum has made great strides in innovating a range of technologies, including the snake and conductor connector wells, fishhook drilling and internal gas injection. This has given the opportunity to BSP's technical staff to extend their competencies and expertise further.

The Brunei Shell Petroleum's key activity areas for resourcing and development are also reflected in the Shell Human Resources' four strategic priorities. Dr Henderson said BSP "grows its own talent" by recruiting staff who then progress through graduate and technician training schemes. BSP also recruits experienced professionals when there is a particular niche skill required.

At present, there are 88 Brunei Shell Petroleum scholarship and in-service students. In 2006 alone, 12 BSc graduates completed their studies in the United Kingdom, with the majority being awarded high grades including First Class degrees. Five staff will now progress to read their Master degrees in the United Kingdom. In addition, there are 72 technician apprentices from various technical training schemes.

Once the new recruits join the company, they will follow the type of development they need to improve their competencies. This will be determined by the Performance Management process including the Graduate Development Programmes, Leadership Development Programmes, Technical Career Ladders and Technician Training Schemes.

The Graduate Development Programmes aim to establish baseline skills and competences in a graduate's first three to five years of employment. The Leadership Development Programmes provide stretched development goals for those with leadership potential, which is assessed on a regular basis.

The Technical Career Ladders are dedicated for the "technical experts" in their field of work. The Technician Training Schemes are for school leavers with National Diplomas, `O' Levels or `A' Levels to develop into production chemists, well services engineers, operations and maintenance engineering technicians.

As part of the employees' development, they are provided with training through the Shell or BSP Learning Curriculum. These training programmes are provided directly by the company and accessible to all locations, for leadership and technical learning events.

The company also provides on-the-job training through mentoring, job rotation, stretched assignments and special projects. Employees are also given the opportunity to undertake overseas assignments and move between jobs using the internal online job posting system termed as "Open Resourcing".

Currently, 65 BSP staffs are on cross posting assignments for an average of three to four years in Oman, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, USA, Russia and Nigeria. – BSP -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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