The CEO Magazine Asia – July 2019

158 | theceomagazine.com

T

aking a leap of faith into the unknown can be

a daunting prospect but with great risks come

great rewards and Haydn Furlonge, CEO of

Brunei National Petroleum Company (BNPC),

has no regrets about the risks that he’s taken.

This includes taking an opportunity to

move to Brunei Darussalam, a country he knew little about

before stepping into his current role. “It was an opening that

was presented to me. I’m not sure why it came along but

it did, and I took a bold step with the support of my family,”

he says. Haydn says he is grateful for the opportunity

provided by the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and

Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam. “So far, so good. I

don’t have any regrets about these leaps of faith I have taken.”

While Haydn was attracted to the role because he wanted

to experience a different business culture, with Brunei being

on the opposite side of the world to Trinidad and Tobago

• where he grew up – the challenges of the oil and gas
  industry also appealed to him.
  “When I joined the industry in Trinidad and Tobago, it
  was a very difficult time for the sector in general,” he says.
  “That was more than 20 years ago and the challenge has
  been how to develop a strategy to survive in the short-term
  but also be ready for new opportunities.”
  Haydn has had a roundabout path into the oil and
  gas industry. He postponed working in the sector after
  completing a degree in chemical and process engineering
  to undertake research at The University of the West Indies
  and Imperial College London.
  During his time with BNPC, he has enjoyed the fact that
  it is a constantly changing and dynamic industry. “It goes
  through cycles but there is also a lot of volatility in the^

FOR BRUNEI NATIONAL PETROLEUM COMPANY CEO HAYDN FURLONGE,

MOVING TO BRUNEI DARUSSALAM FOR A NEW OPPORTUNITY AND EXPERIENCE

WAS A BOLD STEP, AIMING TO LEND HIS EXPERTISE TO THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY.

WORDS STEPHANIE MCDONALD • IMAGES ROB WALLER

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