MANAMA - Key contracts for the Bapco Modernisation Programme (BMP), estimated to cost $5 billion, are set to be signed by the end of this year, Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said yesterday.

Speaking during the opening session of the Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition (Mepec) 2017, the minister said the winning bid for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase of the project will be announced before the end of the year.

This means that the final execution phase of the BMP would start next year with commissioning and start-up anticipated in 2021. 

The BMP aims to boost the processing capacity of the Bapco oil refinery to 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 267,000 bpd.

“In the long term, BMP will ensure that the refinery remains competitive under a wide range of product prices and market scenarios,” he said.

The minister also said more than 50 per cent of work on a new 350,000 bpd oil pipeline between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is now complete. The new 115-km-long A-B Pipeline project complements the BMP and is expected to become operational by the end of 2018.

He said the move was aimed at doubling the capacity of existing pipelines, laid 70 years ago.

The minister said the oil sector in Bahrain is currently operating in accordance with a clear strategy to involve the private sector in the implementation and management of oil projects, citing the liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and regasification terminal as an example.

The terminal is being developed and will be operated by a joint venture known as Bahrain LNG, which is owned by National Oil and Gas Authority (30pc), Teekay LNG (30pc), Samsung C&T (20pc) and the Gulf Investment Corporation (20pc).

It is being developed on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis over a 20-year period beginning in July 2018, and will be handed over to the government at the end of the BOOT period.

Shaikh Mohammed also said the third gas plant project of Bahrain National Gas Expansion Company will be operational by the last quarter of 2018.

He pointed out that work is currently underway on the preparation of developmental plans and studies for deep gas, which includes the drilling of wells onshore so that Bahrain will have three sources of gas; natural gas, deep gas and liquefied gas.

The minister also said Bahrain will further develop its downstream sector to go up the value chain.

Noga is working on a number of vital projects that support the development of the oil and gas sector in the kingdom as the Gulf region will remain the world’s leading strategic location for the largest reserves of oil and the largest production rates.

The third GCC Oil and Gas Women Leadership Excellence Award ceremony will be held in Bahrain.

Shaikh Mohammed praised the efforts made by third GCC Oil and Gas Women Leadership Excellence Award and Symposium team leader Reem Al Ghanim and the rest of the team to promote a culture of leadership excellence for women and encourage innovation, leadership, achievement and women’s talents in the oil and gas industry.

The minister also stressed the need for more engineering solutions to the various challenges in the field of process engineering as a result of population growth and the increasing demand for energy, which requires further work to enhance the relation between process engineering and technology. 

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