Energy

Dominated by hydrocarbons, the energy sector in Brunei Darussalam has seen production begin to falter in the past five years and, therefore, is now awaiting the results of exploration and development programmes being carried out by international oil companies. There remains a high degree of optimism that these efforts will bear fruit, with the government setting ambitious production targets over the next two decades. In the interim, the government faces the threat of revenue erosion from its biggest source of income. However, despite this pause, there continues to be significant activity in the energy industry. In many respects, the sector remains outward facing; the country leans heavily on hydrocarbons for export revenue. As such, the government is pushing hard to maximise output, a strategy that involves bolstering production from existing fields and ramping up the search for new ones. This chapter contains interviews with Pehin Dato Yasmin Umar, Minister of Energy; Dato Matsatejo Sokiaw, Managing Director and CEO, Brunei National Petroleum Company; and Qui Jianlin, Chairman, Zhejiang Hengyi Group, as well as and a dialogue with Yves Grosjean, General Manager, Total E&P Deep and Offshore Borneo; and Ken Marnoch, Managing Director, Brunei Shell Petroleum.