A few good years ago barakah was and energy services company with an impressive competency encompassing wide scope of oil and gas projects.  When you needed your offshore asset to be taken care of, you could “Just call Barakah,” and it would be done.  They had the very best specialists, tons of reliable equipment, all the required certifications and impressive awards that could not fit on the walls of their Main Office Entry Hall in Bangsar.  It felt good to be a part of such a successful enterprise.  But good things do not last. A recent search on the internet for barakah project related media reveals the latest big undertaking with the title ‘Barakah Bidding Big’ by Edge Tv from 2016.  Yes, it was BIG at 1.7 billion. But we are now in 2023, and there are no new projects for our company. That money was never earned or is long spent. Revenue per year is now RM 84 million for fiscal year 2022.

What remains from this impressive business portfolio (shown below) nowadays is just a set of few icons in the reports and company presentations.  And where photos and people and equipment were abundant in company documents in the past, nowadays we see a lot of icons, slogans, policies, and statements.  The company became a virtual shop with difficult to comprehend activities.

But surely, the company must carry out profitable activities.  After all, they must pay their overhead bills. Building. Staff of 100+. Consultants. Contractors.  And the bills are paid by the income from customers.  Model of operations was very simple: client, project, income. And those customers were an impressive bunch.  It is ‘who is the who’ of the energy industry in Malaysia. Those clients are shown in the form of the symbols, tokens of the new virtual world.

And while the client picture gallery is impressive, it is difficult to find any new projects related these clients nowadays.  Every business needs to grow and secure new contracts. But that does not seem to be the case with barakah.  No mention of customers. However, there is plenty of ‘stakeholder’ mentions by barakah. One gets to realize that customers have become one of the stakeholders.  Then what are the New Projects?

The answer to this question is given outright in the very same documents.  Usually in the end part, forming an addendum.  Barakah outlines as required by the Bursa, Material Litigation in the reports.  And in there we find, in last quarterly report Q3 2023: petronas, petrofac, enquest. All featured as defendants. Involved in the litigation. So, it follows that the clients became the defendants and legal cases are the new projects.  Of course, contractors, third parties, even a barakah director take part in these legal battles. Those are additional income streams. The clients likely have the deepest pockets of all the potential victims (defendants).

It needs to be said that the transformation has been quite successful as barakah remains solvent and active.  Who is to say that real activities, oil, and gas projects are more important than legal battles? Instead of helping energy clients, barakah ensures that the contract law of the country is upheld, those found guilty are punished and pay compensatory damages, while court wins provide for the source of income.  Barakah may be the guiding star showing us the future of our virtual world with energy service company becoming a private law enforcement agency by means of civil litigation. Barakah is not just a legal claim shop, it is a new paradigm. The only issue that remains is:

With barakah dealing with law, who is servicing offshore oil and gas equipment now?