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Bahrain Review
Bahrain’s
energy transformation Bahrain’s energy infrastructure is being upgraded and modernised as the country transitions to a new era, where production and environmental performance get equal billing. Martin Clark reports. HILE BAHRAIN IS a small player in the Gulf’s overall oil and gas mix, its own energy sector remains integral to the country’s domestic economy and its forward prospects. It is an industry that has been through a period of restructuring and consolidation, but one that remains firmly state-controlled, via the Oil & Gas Holding Company (Nogaholding), the kingdom’s hydrocarbon and energy investment and development arm. It controls Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), historically the prime mover in the nation’s energy sector, as well as an expanding portfolio of subsidiaries, including Tatweer Petroleum, which is overseeing the redevelopment and growth of the Bahrain field, and Bahrain LNG, a consortium of companies managing the local receiving and regasification terminal. The onshore Bahrain field is the nation’s largest, producing around 40,000 bpd, although the country gets the bulk of its crude oil via the offshore Abu Safah field, which it shares with Saudi Arabia. This contributes a further 150,000 bpd, which is mainly sent for processing into fuels and products at the Sitra refinery, currently in the final stages of a major modernisation and refurbishment. As part of the broad Bapco Modernisation Program (BMP), the refinery’s crude capacity is being increased from 267,000 bpd to 380,000 bpd, with a US$4.2bn contract awarded to TechnipFMC, Samsung Engineering and Tecnicas Reunidas to lead the work in 2017. This project – which is also intended to improve energy efficiency, valorisation of the heavy part of the crude oil barrel (bottom of the barrel), and enhance the product slate and improve environmental performance – is scheduled for completion during the coming year. Last August, Bapco awarded its largest catalyst management deal ever to a US joint venture of specialty chemicals group W. R. Grace & Co. and energy giant Chevron to provide its Resid Hydrocracking catalyst and full-cycle catalyst management (FCM)
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Bahrain’s energy sector remains integral to the country’s domestic economy and future prospects.
solutions at the expanded refinery site. When fully operational in 2023, the new Resid Hydrocracking unit – known as 1RHCU – will be the main profit centre for the refinery. The new hydrocracking unit will convert 78% of the vacuum residue feed into intermediate products, which will then be further processed into high-margin kerosene and diesel, according to Bapco’s chairman and chief executive Dr Dawood Nassif, on announcing the five-year contract.
Upstream developments The expansion and modernisation of the refinery dovetails with upgrades elsewhere in Bahrain’s energy infrastructure. The new
The refinery’s crude capacity is being increased from 267,000 bpd to 380,000 bpd.”
Arabia-Bahrain (AB) oil pipeline was commissioned a few years ago, boosting the flow of crude oil in from Saudi Arabia in readiness for the project. At the same time, the development of domestic reserves is a top priority with Tatweer Petroleum seeking to maximise output from the Bahrain field, which was first discovered back in 1932. Engineering group Petrofac is currently working on a multi-million dollar contract to support Tatweer Petroleum in rolling out a gas distribution network project in Bahrain, which includes high pressure pipelines and fibre optic cabling. The underground pipelines will run through sections onshore and offshore below the seabed in support of gas supply to the kingdom – it reflects the nation’s growing gas interests on top of its traditional oil production. This follows a separate Petrofac contact in 2020 for an upstream gas project that includes well hook-ups, associated pipelines, and tie-ins for several new gas wells that Tatweer Petroleum is drilling as part of its gas delivery strategy in the Bahrain field. While the energy industry remains heavily
