Sujith Chandrasekharan

Some safety professionals learn their craft in classrooms. Sujith Chandrasekharan learned his on the open sea — where a fuelling error, a mishandled munition, or a fire below deck leaves no room for second chances. Over a career spanning more than 32 years, he has carried that unforgiving standard from the warships of the Indian Navy to the largest oil and gas megaprojects in Oman and Saudi Arabia, becoming one of the rare HSE leaders approved as Project HSE Manager by both Saudi Aramco and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).

Sujith's foundation was built between 1994 and 2009 in the Indian Navy, where he served in charge of communication, safety, administration, security, and operations. With nearly twelve years of sea experience — including joint naval warfare operations with navies around the world — he supervised some of the highest-risk activities imaginable: fuelling and de-fuelling, ammunitioning, gunnery, replenishment at sea, dry docking, confined space operations, and extensive firefighting and crisis management.

The Navy taught him what no certification can: that safety is a culture of relentless discipline, enforced not by paperwork but by leadership. Certificates of proficiency from the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet recognized those standards — standards he would carry into civilian life intact.

After leaving the Navy in 2009, Sujith moved rapidly through the industry's proving grounds. As Safety Advisor for Master Constructions in India, he simultaneously oversaw a 138 km four-lane national highway project and a substation at Mangalore Port. By 2010, he was in Oman with Al Hassan Engineering on the $412 million Kauther Depletion Compression Project, rising from HSE Advisor to Site HSSE Manager and delivering two major shutdowns of the Kauther Gas Plant safely.

What followed was nearly a decade at the heart of PDO's project portfolio. Seconded through AIB Vincotte International, Sujith served as Client HSE Advisor and Project Site HSE Lead across the $225 million Lekhwair Gas Field Development, the Ghaba North Re-Development, the Zauliyah Gas Plant, and the SRCPP/SNGP Condensate Recovery Maximisation Project — where he successfully completed four major shutdowns of Saih Rawl CPP, one of SNGP, and a hot tap on a live 24" flare header.

From 2018 to 2021, Sujith served as Senior HSSE Advisor on PDO's Yibal Khuff Project — a mega integrated development involving 45 new wells, a major sour oil and gas treatment facility covering nearly 1.5 square kilometres, hundreds of kilometres of flowlines and pipelines, PDO's first 230 MT/day sulphur removal plant, and a gas turbine power plant. In one of the most hazardous sour gas environments in the region, he served as Emergency Planning Zone Coordinator, responsible for contingency planning and emergency response across the facility's operational phase.

Since joining Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering — first as Manager-HSE on PDO/Shell's Raba & Hanya Phase 2 and Mabrouk Northeast projects in Oman, where two 33kV live overhead line crossings were completed safely — Sujith now serves as AGM (HSE) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As Project HSE Manager on Saudi Aramco's Mastergas System Expansion Project Phase 3, he oversees the safety of construction, pre-commissioning, and commissioning for 246 kilometres of twin 56-inch pipelines.

His credentials match the scale of his responsibilities: a Master's in Health, Safety and Environment Engineering, OTHM Level 6 Diploma, NEBOSH IGC, ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor, OSHA 30, trained ICAM incident investigator, and PDO Level 2 and 3 approved HSE Auditor — recognition that has earned him repeated appreciation and Shukran awards from PDO's top management.

Fluent in seven languages and equally at home advising boardrooms or walking pipeline right-of-ways, Sujith Chandrasekharan embodies a truth the energy industry depends on but rarely celebrates: that behind every safely delivered megaproject stands someone who refuses to look away. From the signal bridge of a warship to the sands of Saudi Arabia, his watch has never ended — and the workers under his care are safer for it.