Bapco’s new $725 million LSDP plant opens
Posted: 11 December 2007
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Bapco's new $700-million (BD262m) low-sulphur diesel production (LSDP) plant was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The new facility forms the core element of Bapco’s $1.0 billion Strategic Investment Programme and reflects the vital importance in enabling continued sale in the international diesel market, contributing significantly to the future of Bapco as a major international export refinery, a statement from the company said.
Bahraini oil products will take a new image and be highly competitive in global markets, said Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
Bahraini Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and Bapco chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza thanked the Prime Minister for approving the go-ahead for the project in 1998.
The $725 million plant aims at reducing the sulphur contents in the diesel produced by Bapco, from 0.7% to less than 0.001%, or less than 10 parts per million.
The LSDP refinery is expected to earn extra annual income for the government estimated at $300 million.
The completion of the LSDP, one of the largest projects in Bapco’s history, was hailed as a year of achievements for the national oil company and Bahrain .
It marks 75 years of oil production and Bapco’s winning of the prestigious Robert W Campbell National Safety Council Award 2007 for excellence in safety, health and environment.
Bahrain , which was the first country to discover oil on the Arab side of the Gulf, echoed the pioneering spirit of 75 years ago with the inauguration of the first Low Sulphur Diesel Production Complex in the region, the press release said.
Shaikh Khalifa said the project should create more job opportunities and strengthen Bahrain 's industrial status regionally and internationally.
The Premier invited foreign companies to invest in Bahrain and benefit from convenient regulations and investment infrastructure.
“This vital project will indeed boost Bahrain 's industrial basis, enhance Bapco products, invigorate the national economy and help it meet development requirements,” he said.
This means its products will meet most of the rigorous specifications of the markets to ensure sustained and competitive sale of diesel in the global market and enhance the future of the company as a pioneering refiner at world level, the minister said.
It will also create the opportunities for implementation of several supplementary projects,
which are quite profitable and true money spinners in the future, the Minister added.
While the various components of the project were being implemented, Bapco, along with Labour Ministry, its main contractor and subcontractors, organised a training programme for some 600 members of the national workforce at a total cost of more than BD2 million.
The programme has met with tangible success in qualifying a promising national workforce interested to serve kingdom's building and construction industry.
As a true multinational facility, the new plant saw specialist suppliers and contractors from Belgium and the USA join in partnership with Bapco while the construction process has been completed in cooperation with Japan.s JGC Corporation.
As a result many of the Bahraini workers who will man the LSDP facility have travelled to JGC’s headquarters in Yokohama to undergo full training under the watchful eye of Essa Al Ansari, Bapco’s Acting General Manager for Major Engineering Projects and Hasan A. Rahman Hasan, Project Manager for the Low Sulphur Diesel project. |
