Bahrain Petroleum Company

The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) is an integrated petroleum company that is the national oil company of Bahrain.

History


BAPCO was established in 1929 in Canada by Standard Oil Company of California for oil exploration activities in Bahrain. It took over Bahrain's assets of Gulf Oil. In 1930 it obtained the only oil concession in Bahrain. BAPCO discovered first oil in 1931. On 31 May 1932, the company discovered the Bahrain Field (Awali Field). After exporting oil and constructing a refinery, it started with 10000 oilbbl/d refining capacity in 1936. Later that year the Standard Oil Company of California signed an agreement with Texaco, which acquired a half of BAPCO's shares. In 1975 more than 60% BAPCO's shares was acquired by the Government of Bahrain. In 1980, all BAPCO's shares were taken over by the Government of Bahrain. In 1978 the oil sector was nationalized and BAPCO assumed full control of the national energy sector. In 1999, the current Bahrain Petroleum Company was created when the Bahrain National Oil Company, established in 1976, merged with BAPCO. In 2018 BAPCO commissioned a new pipeline that replaced the over 70 years old pipeline infrastructure between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In March 2019 construction work was started to upgrade the main oil refinery Sitra. The $5 billion project will increase the capacity to 380000 oilbbl/d. Abdulrahman Jawahery is CEO of the BAPCO.

In August 2021, BAPCO signed a five year agreement for catalyst management with Chevron Joint Venture for $240 million. The clean fuels group specialist Advanced Refining Technologies (ART) which is the joint venture of Chevron and W. R. Grace & Company, will supply there Resid Hyrdocracking catalyst technology for the new Resid Hydrocracking unit (1RHCU) that is to be operational by 2023.

In October 2021, BAPCO was released from the base oils joint venture with Neste and Nogaholding, ending the presence of Neste in Bahrain.

On 6 February 2022, BAPCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) for the implementation of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives.

In 2023, BAPCO became part of the BAPCO Energies brand together with Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas), Bahrain National Gas Expansion Company (Tawseah), Bahrain Aviation Fueling Company (Bafco) Tatweer Petroleum, and Bapco Retail Company (Tazweed).

BAPCO is a founding company of the Gulf Downstream Association (GDA).

The Bapco Modernisation Programme (BMP) completed the construction of the main control building in July 2023 and celebrated with a ceremony, in which for the first time ever in the Middle East a three-dimensional model of the BMP was presented. The ceremony was attended by Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was also given a tour of the facilities and briefed about further BMP project progress. The BMP was 90% complete by August 2023.

In July 2023, Bapco Energies launched its Sustainability Linked Finance Framework, which fits into Bahrain's sustainability and climate change commitments to reduce emissions by 30% by 2035 and a net zero by 2060. In accordance with Bahrain's new energy strategy, Bapco Energies B.S.C began additional developments in August 2023 to become an energy company with fossil fuel based renewable energies. The company aims to generate 20% of Bahrain's energy from renewable sources by 2035 and continues to seek investment opportunities in renewable energy projects and carbon reduction technologies.

Operations
BAPCO is an integrated oil company operating in the field of refining, and marketing. It operates a 267000 oilbbl/d oil refinery which lies midway between the original BAPCO expat workers accommodation township of Awali and Sitra. The complex also includes storage facilities for 14 Moilbbl, a marketing terminal, and a marine terminal. 95% of the company's products are for exports. About one-sixth of this crude originates from the Bahrain Field, with the remainder being pumped from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco supplies approximately 350000 oilbbl/d through the 112 km pipeline from Aramco's Abqaiq Plant. Once the flagship Sitra refinery's expansion is completed in 2023, its capacity will be increased from 267,000 bpd to 380,000 bpd.