Bahrain Petroleum Company commences refinery expansion project

State-owned oil firm Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has started the expansion of its Sitra oil refinery located south of Manama by laying a foundation stone.

The Bapco Modernisation Program (BMP) is expected to increase the capacity of the oil refinery from 267,000 barrels per day (bpd) up to 380,000bpd.

The project is claimed to be the largest industrial project in the country’s history.

According to the Bahrain News Agency, the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the presence of Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

In December 2017, a consortium of TechnipFMC, Samsung Engineering and Tecnicas Reunidas, was awarded a $4.2bn contract to execute the project on an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) lump sum turnkey basis.

Expected to be completed in 2022, the expansion project will include a residue hydrocracking unit, hydrocracker unit, hydro desulphurisation unit, crude distillation unit, vacuum distillation unit, saturated gas plant, hydrogen production unit, and hydrogen recovery unit.

In addition, the project will have units for sulphur recovery, tail gas treatment, sour water stripping, amine recovery, bulk acid gas removal and sulphur solidification, as well as sulphur handling facilities.

Apart from the expansion of the refining capacity, the key objectives of the project include improving the product slate by converting more bottom of the barrel into high-value products and enhancing gross margin.

Other focus areas include energy efficiency and environmental compliance.

During the construction phase, the modernisation project is expected to generate more than 1,500 new jobs. The project will also create 150 permanent high-skill jobs.