Bolhassan, an elected member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly from 1987 to 2011, has many years of political and commercial experience within the region. Bolhassan has held positions as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Assistant Minister in the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Department and subsequently Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Communication.

A graduate of the School of Engineering at Sheffield University, Bolhassan began his career in 1979 at Sarawak Shell Bhd. (a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc) where he gained project planning, design, construction, commissioning and start-up experience in offshore projects. These included the F6A project in Sarawak waters (the largest offshore gas project in the region), the E11 and F23 gas production projects in Sarawak waters and also projects such as the St Joseph and South Furious offshore oil production platforms in Sabah waters.

From 1987 to 1997, Bolhassan was also the Chairman of the Miri Port Authority, now a key economic catalyst in the industrial and economic development of Sarawak and an important port for not only Sarawak’s, but Malaysia’s, development of trade with the rest of the world.

Bolhassan has had significant oil and gas experience with Shell in South Korea, Singapore, the North Sea and the Netherlands.