As part of the plans to develop the oil sector in Bahrain, Sheikh Mohammed Al Khalifa, Oil Minister, affirms his country’s determination to develop the refining sector by focusing on the Bahrain refinery which is fully owned by the state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company “Bapco”, in addition to managing the storage and harbor facilities on the southern island of Sitra. Crude oil will be obtained from the Bahrain field as well as from Saudi Arabia via a direct pipeline between the two neighbors.

The Bahrain Refinery is the oldest in the Gulf, where it was built on Sitra Island in 1936 with an initial capacity of 10,000 barrels per day, and is subject to continuous progressive upgrading. The refinery feedstock comes from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province by pipeline. The state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) operates the refinery and the offshore storage facilities as well as marketing the refinery’s production of refined materials to the local market (8%) while the rest (92%) is exported to countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.

The refinery is currently undergoing a huge project with investments of 6.5 billion dollars and aims to increase its capacity from 267 thousand barrels currently to 380 thousand barrels per day by 2022 to keep pace with the volume of crude flowing in the new pipeline. The project includes doubling the production of diesel and jet fuel, the establishment of petrochemical units to produce olefins, and desulfurization units to be more environmentally friendly.

 The refinery expansion began in January 2019 and the project was officially opened in March 2019 under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister.