01 June 2020

Steady progress is being made on Bahrain oil refining giant Bapco’s multibillion-dollar expansion project with 50 per cent of the work already completed despite the Covid-19 challenges. The project is on track for completion by the third quarter of 2022, reported BNA citing the Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

Shaikh Mohammed was highlighting the latest developments in the oil sector in the kingdom during the Coronavirus pandemic and its economic consequences in a YouTube interview hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain.

Shaikh Mohammed pointed out that the Bapco Refinery Modernisation Programme (BMP) is one of the largest ambitious projects in the country costing $6 billion and will increase capacity up to 400,000 barrels.

He praised the good performance and efforts of the executive management of the project in striving to proceed on the project as per schedule, despite the negative economic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. The project will have a significant positive impact on revenues and is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2022, he added.

Shaikh Mohammed also announced the completion and launch of the first LNG jetty consisting of a floating storage unit, a port, a sea barrier, a nearby platform for regasification of liquefied gas to return to its gas state, underwater pipes to transport gas from the platform to the shore, a land gas delivery facility, and a land-based nitrogen production facility.

In his YouTube interview, Shaikh Mohammed said he highly appreciated the meeting organised by the Chamber in cooperation with the Oil and Gas Holding (nogaholding) last year with the major US companies in the field of oil and gas in Houston to discuss opportunities for investment in Bahrain’s energy sector in light of the recent oil discovery, the largest in Bahrain’s history.

He pointed out that Bahrain was looking forward to strengthening cooperation and taking advantage of the technologies acquired by US oil companies in the field of exploration and supply of logistics and complementary industries.

Shaikh Mohammed stressed the commitment to flexibility, wisdom and good planning at this time that guarantees a better and promising future for the world oil markets.

The minister pointed out the importance of strengthening the role of shared responsibility among all oil producers and mutual support to come up with decisions that help the vital industry to survive, continue and prosper, reported BNA.

He added that the coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented decline in demand for oil, stressing that the indicators are worrying for the oil industry and for the prosperity and growth of oil development projects.

Shaikh Mohammed referred to investment opportunities in oil blocks (1, 2, 3 and 4) in Bahrain estimated to have an area of 9,000 sq km.

He noted that he has recently signed a deal with the Italian company Eni to drill several wells in block 1 with the start scheduled for April, but now postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, BNA added.

As for Block 4, recently discovered, it is located in the Gulf of Bahrain where the drilling of the experimental well was completed. The well began to flow last year and it will be added to the production systems soon.

The minister praised cooperation with Halliburton company, which provided all its expertise, knowledge and techniques resulting in positive achievements in this field. Two deep gas wells have also been drilled and further achievements are expected in the future.  

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