Tread carefully into the next frontier

The other shoe has finally dropped; but is anyone surprised?

Yesterday, embattled oil company British Petroleum (BP) announced that its heavily criticised Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward will be giving up the top post effective October 1 this year. Hayward will be replaced by American Bob Dudley, currently an executive director on BP's board, who is in charge of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill clean-up.

The news comes as no surprise even though Hayward had announced in early June that he had no plans to step down. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said, "It hasn't crossed my mind. It's clearly crossed other people's minds, but not mine." Resignation, or his removal, is the only honourable and logical move considering his disastrous handling of the environmental disaster which has proven to be a public relations nightmare for the oil major.

The environmental impact of the disaster is huge. Four million barrels of crude oil had escaped into the sea before the oil flow was stemmed three months later. Hundreds of wildlife have been found dead just over a month since the spill started. Closer to home, China has also recently experienced a BP-style disaster when two crude oil pipelines exploded in the northeastern port of Dalian on July 17.

Deepwater exploration, The Brunei Times reported on July 9, is "the next frontier for Brunei" even though, according to Yves Grosjean, general manager of Total E&P Borneo BV, it only holds "25 per cent chance of a good find". As a country that produces conventional sources of energy, he said, "Brunei needs to encourage the investment in technologically challenging sources of oil and gas".

Although oil and gas is the bedrock of the Bruneian economy, the Sultanate is on the right track in its drive to diversify, as well as highlighting environmental awareness among its citizens. The future for Brunei is more than just oil. After all, fossil fuels are a finite resource. As the "Green Heart of Borneo", Brunei is the conscience of the region.

Michael Bengwayan, writing for The Brunei Times, reported that typhoon-free Brunei is perfect for aquaculture. Analysing a 2007 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, he wrote "There's gold awaiting to be harvested from Brunei's seas and shores; gold that can never run out unlike oil that faces depletion in the near future". This precious commodity, he added, comprises seaweed, shellfish and fish from cage-rearing. Since the report's publication in 2007, Brunei has made headway in the aquaculture sector, including an offshore aquaculture facility - a joint venture between a local and Chinese company - near the Pulau Pilongan-Pilongan in Muara with an initial investment of $1.45 million.

Brunei, historically a maritime nation, has a special relationship with the sea. Most of its assets are under the sea. It makes sense for the Sultanate to protect its cherished asset. Let's hope that Brunei will be able to fastrack its diversification drive so that it can wean itself from the dependence on oil and gas.

And in deepwater exploration we count on Brunei to tread carefully into "the next frontier" to avoid finding itself in scenarios similar to the Gulf of Mexico or Dalian.