Datuk Ir Bacho Pilong
Datuk Ir Bacho Bin Pilong, 58 hailed from Tawau, and had his early education at SRJK Wallace Bay, Pulau Sebatik Tawau. He was awarded with PETRONAS scholarship to pursue his study and obtained his Degree in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Texas, Austin, USA in 1987. He had also attended Senior Management Development Program at INSEAD in Singapore and Advance Management Program at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, USA in 2008 and 2013 respectively.
He is currently the Senior Vice President of Malaysian Petroleum Management. He started his career with PETRONAS in April 1992 as a Process Engineer at Sabah Operations and was among the group of pioneers to operate the Samarang field.
Over the years, Datuk Bacho has diligently served the Group through numerous international assignments in Vietnam, the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan and has held various senior leadership positions, including Senior Vice President PD&T, Vice President Malaysia Assets, Vice President, International Assets and Senior General Manager, Production and Operations Management at Malaysia Petroleum Management. He was also appointed President of two (2) joint operating companies in the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan.
Among Datuk Bacho’s more notable achievements include leading the Cost Reduction Alliance (CORAL) 2.0, an industry-led collaboration which has now been recognized by the World Economic Forum for possible replications in other regions. During his tenure as Vice President, International Assets, he led the international assets portfolio high-grading with divestments in Algeria, Cameroon, Vietnam and Mauritania. Datuk Bacho successfully secured a production sharing contract extension for the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) in the Republic of South Sudan and restored production after five (5) years of shutdown during a challenging crisis period.
International Assets’ footprint has also grown under his watch with the entry into new countries such as the Sultanate of Oman, the Federative Republic of Brazil and Australia. Additionally, he headed the migration of White Nile Petroleum Operating Company (WNPOC) from Khartoum to Juba where PETRONAS became the 1st foreign oil company to set up a base in the Republic of South Sudan. During his short stint in Corporate Strategic Planning, he contributed to the creation of Vestigo Petroleum Sdn. Bhd., a company that specializes in marginal and mature asset development and production.
Being the only Sabahan taking up the senior leadership position e.g. ELT in PETRONAS, Datuk Bacho assumes the role of an ‘ambassador’ to strengthen the relationship between PETRONAS and the Sabah state.
Datuk Bacho also sits on the board of PETRONAS companies such as PETRONAS Technical Services Sdn. Bhd. and Institute of Technology PETRONAS Sdn. Bhd. He was appointed by the Ministry of Education to be part of the Academia-Industry Talent Exchange Programme AI-xCHANGE: CEO @ Faculty Programme 1.0 “Learn From The Pros” for Universiti Malaysia Sarawak starting January 2019. He was accorded with Adjunct Professorship by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) given his deep passion in learning institution to shape the oil and gas industry. He is also a speaker in various industry forums such as Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Malaysia Oil and Gas Services Council (MOGSC), Asia Oil & Gas Conference (AOGC) and Oil & Gas UK Conference.
*Updated as of March 2024
