When the Salam team settles into BSP’s Technical Director office, we’re met with framed quotes, a collection of rock specimens as well as trinkets from around the world. We are also welcomed with enthusiasm and smiles – and that is Mariana Omar in essence, the new BSP Technical Director.

Stepping into the role of Technical Director is neither a small feat nor responsibility. The directorate oversees extensive portfolios such as exploration, development, wells, digitalisation and technology, project and engineering, wells, and decommissioning a restoration. Central to shaping the directorate’s long-term strategy, Mariana’s new position sits at the intersection of leadership, people management, and decision-making – on top of the day-to-day technical challenges.

In this interview, Mariana shares insights into her day-to-day role, career journey, leadership philosophy and what it means to be the first local woman to hold this position.

A Career That Started by Chance 

Her path into the energy industry was unexpected.

“I wanted to study international relations, but when I applied for a scholarship, I was offered geology instead. At the time, I wasn’t sure – but it turns out to be the start of a career I never imagined.”

She began working offshore early in her career before moving into technical and leadership role both in Brunei and overseas.

“Each role taught me something different. Over time, I realised I enjoyed not only the technical work, but also helping teams work together and make smarter choices together. That naturally led me into leadership.”

Early in her career: Mariana at a rig blessing ceremony 

Stepping Into a Bigger Responsibility

When offered the Technical Director role, Mariana took her time to think before accepting.

“I asked myself if I was ready, and whether I could do justice to the responsibility. This role affects many people, and I take that seriously.”

Today, she leads a large and diverse organisation.

But the journey has only started for Mariana.

“My biggest challenge is ensuring everyone is aligned and supported so we can move the company forward together. I strive to energize, enable and guide the team towards the right actions that truly move the needle.”

Leading with Integrity

Her leadership style balances firmness with empathy.

“I lead with decisiveness, but also with openness. I’m not afraid to challenge the status quo, and I like to ensure transparency in my decisions, so people understand the reasoning behind them.”

Integrity is non-negotiable.

“Doing the right thing must come first – whether it’s about safety, cost, schedule, production, or people.”

And these values were shaped early in Mariana’s life.

“I grew up between two cultures, Chinese and Tutong Malay, in a humble family. Watching my late father progress from part-time construction worker to business owner, while also serving as a teacher, taught me the value of work ethic, authenticity, and respect.”

That authenticity helps her connect with people across the organisation.

“When you are genuine, people trust you. And trust is essential, especially when you don’t see every team every day.”

Mariana during her days as student at Maktab Sains Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan

Breaking Barriers as the First Local Female Technical Director

For Mariana, the gravity of her position’s significance only sank in after the official announcement of her new role.

“I didn’t fully realise what it meant until I saw the reaction from others,” she says.

“As the first in my family to earn a degree, this achievement is very meaningful. I only wish my late father could have seen it.”

Working in a male-dominated industry never felt like a barrier, but it did require confidence.

“I grew up with brothers, and my parents believed girls must be independent. That helped me carry myself in this environment.”

She also believes progress has been made in the industry, but more can be done.

“Flexible policies, allyship, and leadership programs help, but we must also strengthen mentoring, partner with education institutions, foster cross-industry collaboration, and highlight women’s technical achievements to build female talent.”

She credits mentors, allies, and family support along the way.

“I’ve had people who challenged me, supported me, and showed what good leadership looks like. I’ve also had ‘character-building’ experiences that taught me what not to do. Both are valuable.”

Alongside her mentees at her "Mentoring Circle" session

Looking Ahead

Despite the challenges of working in a mature oil and gas basin, Mariana remains optimistic on what lies ahead. Challenges can be viewed as opportunities.

“One of our biggest tasks is finding new potential while optimising existing assets. Ageing infrastructure and rising global costs can make this difficult, but also exciting.”

But Mariana mentions that innovation will be key.

 “We need new technology, new approaches, and new thinking. This is our chance to innovate and reimagine how we work by pushing boundaries. “

When asked about the legacy she hopes to leave, her answer is simple.

“I hope my time as Technical Director will be remembered as a period where we made a difference – where we extended the life of our mature assets, strengthened our people, and prepared our company for a stronger future. If one day I can say I helped BSP move forward in a positive way, that would be enough.”

Mariana alongside her team during visits to onshore sites 

A notepad? No, a note app.

A letter? No, an email.

A cash transaction? No, a tap to pay.

The digital landscape is evolving at a lightning speed. While it may be tempting to be comfortable and stick to the known, adapting to technological advancements is crucial to survivability.  

For more than 90 years, Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) has played a central role in writing Brunei’s energy story. From pioneering Snake Wells and Smart Technology to introducing Ocean Bottom Nodes (OBN) and 3D seismic surveys, BSP has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation in the oil and gas industry.

And behind every technological breakthrough is a strong digital backbone.

In BSP, the IT infrastructure quietly connects onshore and offshore operations, enabling teams to collaborate, access critical data and work efficiently. In doing so, it supports the daily work of more than 3,500 employees who keep the company running – on land and at sea.

Keeping Up with the Time

While it was at a comfortable position, as the world moves rapidly towards cloud and mobile productivity, BSP knew it had to keep pace.

It was time to modernise its End User Computing (EUC), especially amidst growing concerns on current EUC setup around access to productivity tools, data, and applications on mobile devices – compounded by the rising annual cost.

This led to the launch of EUCare, a project focused on building an agile, secure and mobile IT environment that could support future business needs. The new programme also set to decrease reliance on low-value applications that was incurring cost.

But the project didn’t come without its challenges.

Where there is a need for onboarding, there also exist the need to offboard. This means ensuring that all end-users get a seamless transition from the old to new system, while ensuring minimal to no impact to critical business operations.

Immersion centre for the EUCare devices. Employees get to familiarise themselves with the new devices and get updated on new features at the centre.

Powering Productivity Across BSJV

With grit and planning, and within just three months, the team rolled out modern hardware to 4,155 Brunei Shell Joint Venture (BSJV) employees and 745 business partners across all operations. The project also reduced projected annual operating costs to USD 7.8 million. To further improve efficiency, the EUCare Self-Service Portal was introduced, offering a single platform for employees to access and manage all IT services.

Safety first - EUCare EUX engineers attend a site briefing ahead of the day's laptop deployment work.

The EUCare project is more than just a success story in upgrading hardware and software. Driving the transition were capable locals. The execution of the massive project was enabled by a diverse team of 60 interns, 57 IT focal points and 30 BSJV Company Site Representatives – all of which are Bruneians. The project itself was delivered alongside a fully Bruneian company.  

EUCare became the secure, dependable platform which provides access to essential IT services, ensuring that business runs smoothly with minimal disruption and downtime. Whether in the office, working remotely or even on site, the platform empowers all BSJV staff to stay connected, focused and productive.  

Strengthening connectivity and productivity - laptop deployment completed at remote site.

Developed in collaboration with other solutions partners, EUCare has improved cost efficiency, strengthened system reliability through cloud-based applications, and enhanced security. Just as importantly, EUCare has invested in people – supporting local talent while playing a meaningful role in the continued grow of Brunei’s IT ecosystem. 

“EUCare is proudly a locally developed partnership: we're proud of the major foundational milestone achieved so far and look forward to providing greater business value through our EUCare services with DMOS Technologies,” shared Hjh Sofi Umar, BSP’s Chief Information and Digital Officer.

Committed to excellence - local EUX engineers at the forefront of user support and deployment activities. 

The time is 3:00pm when the Salam team settles into a call. For Amal Majeedah Aji, it is 10:00am – she is logging in from the other side of the world. Currently, she is at Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), a Shell joint venture company based in Muscat where she works as a Senior Production Technologist.

Amal is fairly a veteran in oil and gas. She graduated from the University of New South Wales as a Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) scholar in 2010 and has been with the company ever since.

Almost 18 years of oil and gas knowledge. If this knowledge was human, it would have been legal to drive at this point.

As we sit in the call, Amal talks confidently on her craft.

But she talks with humility. While knowledge is 18 years old, Amal doesn’t think it’s experienced enough.

Amal still thinks there’s opportunities to learn, which was why she decided to leave the comfort of home to work halfway across the world on a Long-Term International Assignment (LTIA).

Amal with the Nimr Clusterteam at PDO

"I have been working as a Production Technologist (PT) since the beginning of my career and have experienced working on all BSP’s major onshore and offshore assets. Mostly as Wells, Reservoir and Facilities Management (WRFM) PT on top of doing work on Wells delivery,” she casually shares, barely scratching the surface of a career that’s thick with experience.

She also held the role as WRFM Integration lead, managing end-to-end WRFM intervention activities in West Asset, and the co-lead for Sand Management efforts – all while running courses on Sand Management for BSP while heavily involved in the localisation of Sand Retention Testing Lab project between BSP and Universiti Teknologi Brunei.

Even then, Amal is hungry for more knowledge.

“What’s different about Oman is that I have the opportunity to do pure technical work,” she explains, “In BSP, my role was more geared towards planning and strategising. Here, I do the hands-on work.”

Oman poses a different challenge for Amal as PDO undergoes a Growth journey. Especially in this technical role, everything can be fast-paced and intense, requiring agile ways of thinking and creativity.

“Just to give context, imagine having a hoist operation to complete one well every three days, and a rig to drill and complete a well within one week – that’s very fast!” she further adds that quick thinking and problem solving are always required when working at this speed, especially when managing the Nimr Cluster (home to one of  PDO’s largest oil production field with the highest number of wells), an asset that can be temperamental in nature.

Despite the challenges, Amal embraces them with glee. Currently, she is learning a lot on subsurface initiatives that are not even practiced in Brunei, exposing her to a multitude of new technologies and ways of working that she can bring home. She has also been assigned as PT Technical Authority 2 (PT) to provide technical assurance on WRFM and hydrocarbon maturation work – assignments that are opening her eyes and mind for further learning.

Amal with the Bruneian community in Oman

It Takes Hard Work

While Amal is reaping the benefits of hard work that merits her to be on LTIA, she mentions that it takes grit and dedication. Being able to qualify for an international assignment requires proactiveness in competence development as well as a strategic planning on career progression, on top of identifying value added from being on assignment.

“It’s important to be an all-rounder. Be technically sound in most aspects, not only limited to your disciplines and find a niche and improve on it, a set of skills that you can improve on or “offer” to others. If I could give some advice, do more on Continuous Improvement work. If I were a certified practitioner at this point of my career, it would probably help me here better.”

So, what’s next? For Amal, she is focusing on her experience in Oman and like a sponge, absorb as much as she can from the experts there with the aim of replicating her learning back home at the Abode of Peace.

“As I bring my own set of experiences and BSP best practices with me here at PDO, I am learning a lot from PDO. There is a lot that we can adopt for BSP, which I hope I’ll have the opportunities to implement once home.”

Celebration for Nimr 3000^th Well

Amal Majeedah is one of the 15 BSP employees who are undergoing Long Term International Assignments all around the world. Competence development continues to be one of the key priorities for BSP. The LTIA programme opens doors for Bruneian talent to learn, stretch, and close their skill gaps by experiencing new environments and challenges. It sits alongside other opportunities such as project roles and national assignments, all designed to help Orang Kitani grow into the leaders and experts of tomorrow.