About

When he became general counsel in 2012, Dzul Bakar’s first and defining task was to lead Shelf Drilling’s historical $1bn Transocean buyout. ‘Achieving independence from Transocean was a challenging and complex undertaking’, Bakar says. ‘Although the transition of 38 rigs in 12 different countries has thrown many obstacles in our way, today we are substantially independent and managed to achieve this within the projected timeframe’. In the transaction’s aftermath, Shelf Drilling was required to establish its own legal entities across all business operations, and Bakar was faced with the ‘interesting challenge’ of building a functional legal department and comprehensive compliance program from scratch within a 60-day timeslot. He then formed locally compliant legal entities across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Central and South East Asia, East Africa and Europe, throughout 2013. ‘We have had to be flexible and adapt to our changing and growing needs’, Bakar adds. ‘From setting up department and legal infrastructure and systems from scratch, growing the department and adapting to the needs of the business’. It is the ‘diversity and variety’ of his role which most appeals to him, he says, as well as the high-level strategic involvement in Shelf Drilling’s run of significant transactions. ‘I am blessed with a talented and diverse legal team’, he adds.