Published on December 14, 2023

Meet Hj Md Suffian Hj Zainal Abidin, External Relations Lead at Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP). Suffian sits under the Communications and External Affairs (CEA) department and has been with the company for 21 years. During his tenure, he has held diverse roles as Business & Development Adviser, Head of Issue and Stakeholder Management, Business Communications Lead, and Campaign Lead. In the last five years, he has been working in External Relations, overseeing BSP’s Social Performance and Non-Technical Risks. 

But what exactly is Social Performance and Non-Technical Risks (SP-NTR)? In Suffian’s own words, SPNTR encompasses how BSP effectively manage the social impacts of its business activities to the communities in which it operates. These impacts can be positive and challenging, and his role revolves around mitigating the latter while enhancing the former. As someone who regularly engages the community, Suffian also plays a role in projects by bringing in insights on non-technical risks. 

Suffian’s job primarily focuses on engaging diverse stakeholders.  This can range from the community, other private entities, to government agencies. It is critical for Suffian to have a direct line to his group of stakeholders – he has built a close relationship with them over the years, giving them assurance that BSP prioritises the concerns and wellbeing of its communities. 

“While we do have platforms where people can reach out to such as functional emails and feedback mechanism tools, having human interface provides comfort and assurance. Our job requires us to be out of the office a lot of the time to engage, assure and inform all our stakeholders on our projects – this is also critical in ensuring a smooth and successful project execution.” 

A typical day for Suffian starts early and kicks off with a trip to a small local establishment. Here, he gets to see the morning crowd while picking up some food for the office. Beyond acquiring fried delicacies, Suffian also acquires updates from the shop operators and other patrons. 

At the office, he would quickly check his schedule before calling his stakeholders to confirm meetings. Meetings usually go beyond office walls – it can be at residents’ homes, community halls, or even fishing sites. This is usually determined by business needs. For example, a project taking place near the suburbs require engagements with residents and village heads. In the session, residents would be informed of anticipated project impacts such as increase in noise levels or even movements of heavy machineries. Usually, BSP employees will work closely with the residents to come to an agreement on ways of working to minimise impacts to their daily lives. 

Once every quarter, Suffian and his team would bring stakeholders together at the Community Townhall. The Community Townhall serves as a forum for BSP to share on upcoming activities and projects throughout the year. At the session, government stakeholders, community leaders as well as project teams would come together to discuss, deliberate, and decide on needed actions from each party. The townhall also acts as a platform for attendees to directly voice their concerns, fostering an open and transparent dialogue. 

But SPNTR is more than just community engagements. Suffian’s role acts as a bridge between the company and the public. It is important for him to not only have one, but both ears on the ground – one for the business, one for the community. 

“I get to work with various project teams from both offshore and onshore and connect them with external stakeholders. Finding and providing opportunities for our external stakeholders to see what we do, but also for our project teams to see and understand the community,” Suffian shared. 

As every role, the job come with its own challenges. Sometimes, misalignment between project needs and external stakeholder expectations can be a tough situation to navigate. In such cases, it becomes a delicate balance to ensure the community needs align with the objectives of the company. 

“In this job, you get to meet people from all walks of life. In our continuous mission to build relationship, we also find opportunities to help our community. Sometimes, we get to contribute to the community beyond oil and gas – just like how our BSP staff volunteer at one of the schools in the community and help students struggling in mathematics. This shows just how much we not only care as a company, but as individuals.”