Interview with Surachet Tanwongsval, Executive Vice-President, Asia Pacific, for Special Report on Singapore Chemicals – 2026 Edition

Could you introduce yourself and Bureau Veritas’ Asia Pacific (APA)C division region?

I have been with Bureau Veritas for about two years. Before joining, I worked across oil & gas, chemicals, government, and consulting. In my role, I oversee APAC, with a large on-the-ground organization and multiple product lines spanning industries, infrastructure, certification, commodities, and newer areas such as cybersecurity. The scope is diverse by design, and the job is largely about staying close to customer operating realities while also steering where we invest capabilities.

Across APAC, we have a significant footprint in people and capabilities, spanning multiple business lines: Building & Infrastructure; Industrial (including power utilities, renewables, oil & gas, and industrial products); Certification; Commodities; and Cybersecurity.

Performance has been mixed due to the region’s high heterogeneity and an uncertain global environment. In the buildings & infrastructure sector, activity is policy-driven: there is continued flow in parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, but investment timing can slow during periods such as elections and overcapacity. In the industrial sector, power utilities have been a strong growth story. Oil & gas remains resilient in the region because energy security is central to national oil companies, even as downstream dynamics can be uneven. Another theme is the expansion of Chinese overseas investment from infrastructure into industrial assets, alongside EPC firms internationalizing.

Tell us more about “Leap 28”, and how will it shape organizational change and growth in APA?

Our Leap 28 strategy is structured around three pillars—portfolio, performance, and people—with sustainability placed at the core. In practical Asia Pacific terms, we are reinforcing our product line organization by bringing in deeper domain experts who understand customer processes and local industry operations. The goal is to strengthen our proximity to the customer while deepening the expertise we bring to complex operational problems.

We align investments and capability-building with higher-growth segments through targeted acquisitions and organic growth. On performance, we are pushing digital components to help customers reduce cost, improve compliance, and operate more sustainably. Overall, Leap 28 is about improving outcomes: better customer support, sharper focus on where growth is strongest, and stronger in-region technical capability.

Why is Singapore important for Bureau Veritas in Asia Pacific, and what role does it play as a hub?

Singapore is a key hub for us not only as a management center, but also as a place where policy, regulators, and industry are oriented toward innovation and long-term competitiveness. We partner closely with bodies like EDB and BCA, and Singapore’s approach to transformation—being more productive, more technology-forward, and more open to new operating models—creates a practical test bed for ideas we can later replicate across Asia.

Because the market is already looking ahead, on carbon-related initiatives, productivity constraints, or future infrastructure needs, customers tend to be more willing to explore new technology-enabled approaches. That creates opportunities for us to co-develop and pilot solutions with regulators and industry stakeholders, rather than deliver traditional compliance services.

What is your view on Jurong Island’s shift toward specialty chemicals?

Moving up the value chain toward specialty chemicals makes strategic sense for Singapore, especially given China’s strength in commodity chemical production. The “what” is specialty chemicals, but the “how” matters just as much: producing with a lower carbon footprint, improving efficiency, and building resilience against supply chain and tariff volatility. These pressures reinforce Singapore’s need to stay ahead in decarbonization and digitalization.

For us, this creates demand for more advanced support—such as tech-augmented inspection that can reduce downtime and avoid shutdown cycles. When margins and competitiveness matter, improving productivity and reliability through smarter assurance and inspection approaches is a direct lever for customers operating in an integrated, high-standard environment like Jurong Island.

What is Bureau Veritas doing in cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity spans baseline standards work—such as ISO 27001 certifications—as well as specialized services, including advisory and penetration testing. The “pen testing” work is particularly important because vulnerabilities persist even in well-funded systems, and stress-testing must be continuous. What is changing is that cybersecurity is no longer only an IT topic: as equipment becomes more sensor-rich and increasingly capable of control, cyber risk extends into operational technology.

We look at this through people, processes, and technology—it is not just about firewalls, but also about training, governance, and real-world exposure. As companies digitize and as autonomy and AI-driven decision-making increase, the importance of robust cyber practices becomes more critical.

Looking ahead, what are your priorities for APA?

Our priority is supporting customers to operate more safely, more sustainably, and more competitively—because customer outcomes are the anchor that keeps the strategy practical. That means accelerating tech enablement, expanding technical capability—especially through Singapore as an innovation hub—and investing in sectors with structurally growing demand, such as power, renewables, and digital-enabled assurance.

Under Leap 28, we will continue to sharpen our portfolio focus, strengthen product-line expertise, and use digital tools to help customers reduce costs and downtime while remaining compliant and ready for a more sustainability-driven operating environment.