I thought I was history,” says Hussain Tadayon, 50-year veteran of the oil industry. Still very active at 66 in his own business, he is much more than history.

Bapco had sent Hussain, after graduating as an apprentice, to the UK for five years, where he earned his BSc, with honours, in electrical engineering from London University. He returned to Bahrain from his studies in 1967 and worked his way up through Bapco’s organisation.

On the way up
“Initially I was a power engineer, was then put in charge of the Bapco power stations and later head of the department as manager of power and utilities.”

An important reform for Bapco took place when Hussain became their first Bahraini technical manager. The most exciting moment of his career was this first appointment as a manager.

That early in his career, he showed his concern for professional ethics: “You need to reward people for their good work,” he reportedly said, “regardless of their background.
Human beings need to be nourished in order to get the most out of them.”

For his further professional development, Bapco sent him to Caltex in New York. At the time, Caltex was Bapco’s parent company.

“For me, it was a real transformation because I went from a power and utilities background into a truly oil industry background.”

Hussain got involved in oil economics. “I was exposed to the global oil business in terms of production, sales, distribution and shipping.”

When he returned to Bahrain, in 1979, Bapco appointed him manager of oil processing, what someone referred to as “the heart of Bapco’s operation.” Hussain was again the first Bahraini to hold that management position.

After two years in oil processing, Hussain became general manager of oil refining, then deputy CEO in 2002.

A year later, Hussain’s climb up Bapco’s ladder led to his greatest achievement — his appointment as Bapco’s CEO.

True to form, he was the first Bahraini to hold that position.

At the top
Soon after his appointment as CEO, Hussain announced the government’s commitment to invest more than a billion dollars to upgrade Bahrain’s oil refinery.

Hussain says that the upgrade “worked out very well.

We raised the financing through a consortium of international banks.” The major portion of that plan was the low sulphur diesel production (LSDP) project, the largest undertaken in Bapco’s history.

Although there were other projects, the LSDP was the largest, costing about US$800 million alone. “By the time I left, we had spent over US$1.2 billion on the refinery upgrade.”

On employment numbers, Hussain says, “When I left Bapco we had about 87 per cent Bahraini’s.” When he took over the refining division in 1981, it had over 1,000 people. By the time he left that division, it had 97 per cent Bahrainis.

On safety and the environment
On his way up, Hussain had shown a vital interest in safety.
He became the first among the management team to raise the slogan, “Zero accidents target is achievable.” At the time, according to one writer, that was “a radical change in safety thinking.”

Hussain says about safety, “It was a passion for me. I was chairman of the industrial safety committee.” Bapco’s safety record has received recognition from the US Safety Council.

He adds, “Bapco has always been keen on environmental protection. Any project must undergo environmental impact assessment studies before getting a permit to go ahead.”

Along with his contribution toward safety, Hussain considers his work on strategic planning, giving the company direction, as his major achievements at Bapco. He admits that striving for excellence motivates almost everything he does.

The strategic planning involved efforts like drawing up blueprints for a refinery modernisation program and deciding what kinds of products could have optimum quality and value.

It also involved work on human resources like Bahrainisation, training and developing desired skill levels.