Bosna-S is a private company with a 30-year track record of supporting oil and gas clients with engineering, planning, construction and consulting services. While it primarily focuses on projects in Libya, the company is looking to raise its profile in other countries and showcase its exceptional skills. Managing Director Adnan Ibisevic spoke with Andy Probert.
Bosna-S is a deeply resilient company based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Given the backdrop of political strife, civil war and Covid in its geographical areas of operation, the business retains a formidable presence. It has become a mainstay of the energy industry, providing engineering, planning, procurement and construction services on projects in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
While Libya has been its main focus of business for the past 30 years, Managing Director Adnan Ibisevic said: “We are always ambitious to take our expertise and knowledge to other areas of the world where needed.”
Operational overview
Established in 1990, Bosna-S employs a 350-strong highly skilled workforce that provides EPC activities for refinery upgrades, terminal construction and overhauls, power plants, gas turbines, tanks, power supply, substations and cathodic protection, as well as the upstream niche of Early Production Facilities. The company also works with control systems, such as Safety Instrumented Systems, firefighting and detection.
Its presence in Libya is on a national scale at oil and gas fields east to west. Importantly, these projects generate around 80% of business for Bosna-S.
“Some of our people have been involved in Libya’s energy projects since the late
1960s,” said Mr Ibisevic. “We have historically strong ties to the nation.
“We focus mostly on providing control systems and automation, firefighting and fire detection, along with the design and construction of tanks and terminals. While these are our three strengths, we are also completing many power supply and gas turbines for clients that are mostly national oil companies.
“Even with the troubles that struck Libya in the 2000s, we have not stopped working in the country except for one day, the revolution day in February 2011. Since then, we have kept working.”
Bosna-S has also developed a skid manufacturing facility in Bosnia and Herzegovina, providing metering skids to clients in-country, while having a solid network of sub-contractors regionally.
“We have extensive knowledge of skids, and we want to deliver to clients and provide pre-assembled solutions to others,” Mr Ibisevic continued. “We intend to expand beyond our traditional Libyan market.
Bosna-S Managing Director, Adnan Ibisevic
BOSNA-S I PROFILE
“Bosna-S has also been present in Egypt and the Middle East, plus we are looking at other key markets, as we are sure we can provide quality projects. We have a strong network of supporting suppliers in the region, and our in-house engineering capabilities enable us to be competitive on the technical and commercial sides.”
The company also established a subsidiary, Enerdyne, in 2023, focused on providing services and smart power systems to the renewable energy sector. “This is our second line of development that we are working on,” Mr Ibisevic said. “These include solar power, smart metering and smart energy systems, all to help increase energy efficiency.”
Key projects
Bosna-S is currently working on two refinery upgrade projects, including one that involves complete modernisation and automation of a refinery dating back to the 1960s, while another will help increase refinery production capacities. Both projects are based in Libya, and the completion dates are in the next 12 months.
It is also completing a significant oil terminal refurbishment project at the Zueitina Oil Company, involving two 500,000-barrel tanks, the largest available in Libya today. The company has another contract to develop a power supply for a gas turbine in a terminal and a major firefighting project in Libya, which will begin later this year.
In the last two years, the company has completed several significant projects.
These have included the design, supply and erection of three 7,000m³ tanks for kerosene and one 30,000m³ floating roof rank for gasoline at Misurata Terminal, in Libya, for Brega Petroleum. This project also extended to all civil, mechanical, firefighting, electrical and instrumentation works.
“Bosna-S has also been present in Egypt and the Middle East, plus we are looking at other key markets, as we are sure we can provide quality projects”
For the Sirte Oil Company, Bosna-S was tasked with modernising the firefighting system on the Zelten Field Facilities, also in Libya. This included fire protection systems, a new safety-instrumented emergency shutdown system, fire and gas detection systems, and software programming.
It also completed a contract for the Arabian Gulf Oil Company to erect two 18MW Solar Gas turbines and all ancillary equipment at Sarir oil field in Libya. Works also included installing medium and low voltage local electrical stations, laying down and terminating all cables, plus installing field instruments, earthing and grounding for equipment and structures.
Another milestone project was the maintenance of Brega Petroleum Marketing’s old terminal in Al Zawia. This included comprehensive EPC of tanks, pump houses, LPG spheres, truck loading gantries, electrical substations and instrumentation control systems. At the end of 2023, the company handed over eight terminal fuel batch loading metering skids completely engineered, procured and assembled at its facility.
Looking ahead
Mr Ibisevic, who has been with the company since 2001, outlined the strategic vision of the company: “Today, the word sustainability can be abused in different ways. But for Bosna-S, environmental protection is something we fully comply with and are compliant with ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001.
“We are also working on the renewables side and building the solar power business and EPC activities for small-scale business owners in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
While global instability is causing major challenges for the industry, the most significant issue is securing good, welltrained employees, according to Mr Ibisevic: “The general issue of an ageing workforce in the hands-on side of the business is a constant challenge. However, we are still managing to deal with this, whereas on the engineering side, we are doing very well and are con stantly expanding our team with young staff ready to face the future endeavours.”
Bosna-S has maintained long-term relationships with suppliers and clients for over a decade. Integrity and collaboration remain fundamental values in building resilient partnerships.
“One example is our relationship with Yokogawa, a Japanese supplier of automation systems and a world leader in the oil and gas industry,” Mr Ibisevic explained. “We are a channel partner of Yokogawa and have been working together since 2002. We are very happy with our cooperation.”
In conclusion, Mr Ibisevic remained optimistic for the future: “We are working in a very dynamic position and continue to leverage our expertise where we can.
Bosna-S remains focused on delivering high-quality solutions in the region and ensuring we are a key partner to many clients, backed up by an excellent supply network.
“We believe there remains a lot of untapped potential in the industry and hope to harness that as much as we can.” n
