BAPCO (Bahrain Petroleum Company) is a wholly Government-owned entity of Bahrain, engaged in the oil industry sectors including exploration and prospecting for oil, drilling, production, refining, distribution and sales. We spoke with the Manager of Supply and Marine, Khalid Ebrahim Buhazza.

WRITTEN BY JACK SLATER

ENGAGING THE OIL INDUSTRY

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“Oil was discovered in Bahrain in 1932, the first such find on the Arabian side of the Gulf,” Khalid opens up, “And in many way this has defined Bahrain to the international

community. Since the late 20th century there have been attempts to diversify our economy and become less dependent on oil by investing in the banking and tourism sectors. However, Bahrain is still an oil rich nation.”

With a catalogue of customers for the crude oil and refined products based in the Middle East, India, the Far East, South East Asia and Africa about 95% of refined products are exported beyond their borders. In this regard, BAPCO’s main push is to collaborate and engage in all aspects of the petroleum and related industries, with the aim of maximising its contribution to the national economy.

Handling such a vital resource for the country, BAPCO has pledged itself to be the pinnacle example of a business by creating value for their shareholders, customers and employees, while constantly striving for excellence, a key watchwords of the organisation.

“Our values define us,” Khalid explains, “We must all keep a business attitude, a deep respect for each other, a willingness for teamwork, integrity, innovation and personal accountability. Working like this, an individual may strengthen himself and thereby strengthen his company.”

HANDS ON APPROACHToday the oil industry is one of the most competitive sectors in

the world and it does not forgive errors, so to promote excellence, BAPCO have taken the stance of separating the focusses of the company into different segments to offer a strong hands on approach.

Exploration and Development: BAPCO carries out extensive studies on a continuous basis to explore, making use of the latest technology, techniques and methods, for new oil and gas reserves and to obtain more accurate data on the existing reserves.

Drilling and Production: To maintain production from Bahrain Field at the optimum levels, advanced drilling techniques are applied to new wells as well as working over existing wells. As a result of increased demand, from the growing industrial base in Bahrain, BAPCO has expanded its gas facilities to increase the natural gas production capacity.

Refining: The Bahrain Refinery, which is one of the largest in

the Middle East and the oldest in the GCC, refines over 250,000 barrels of crude every day. About one-sixth of this crude originates from Bahrain Field and the remainder is pumped from Saudi Arabia in pipelines extending 27 kilometres over land and a further 27 kilometres under the sea before reaching the northwest of Bahrain.

Marketing: BAPCO exports crude oil to world markets and sells the refined petroleum products both locally and internationally. It also supplies and sells aviation fuel at the Bahrain International Airport through its affiliate, The Bahrain Aviation Fuelling Company (BAFCO), in which the company is a 60% shareholder. It also provides the full requirements of natural gas to the power generating plants and other industries in the country.

Training and Development: delivering an ambitious human resource development programme to ensure that the skills of its workforce match the technological and business demands of this new century, BAPCO supports over 150 students in higher education across Bahrain and abroad. The Training and Development department ensures that the present and future employees are at the level required to support the company’s future endeavours and ambitions.

“One of our key areas is quality management which we have taken very seriously,” he tells us, “This ensures our internal and external customers have high quality products that conform to the agreed specifications and applicable regulatory requirements. Our Quality Management System meets all ISO 9001 requirements and we meet all standards along the manufacturing process.”

THE LUBE-BASED OIL PLANT PROJECTThe winner of the Bahrain MEED Quality Awards for Projects,

the $314 million Bahrain Bapco Lube Base Oil Plant has been operational since March 2012 and is one of the primary focusses for BAPCO. And for good reason.

Mr. Kyung-Tae Kim, Vice President of Samsung Engineering was quoted as saying that the Lube Base Oil Plant was one of the largest of its type in the world and that the opening of the Lube Base Oil Plant provided a fresh impetus to business investments in the Kingdom of Bahrain, setting a new benchmark for the use of technology in the oil and gas industry. It also boosted local employment, hiring 3000 new workers for the development phase, including 200 Bahraini nationals.

The production capacity of the Lube Base Oil Plant is 400,000

BAPCO

Oil is one of Bahrain’s main resources and has been since the 1930s. Since then, it has made the country, which is known for its mild winters and hot humid summers, a highly modernised and functional country. BAPCO owns a 250,000 barrel-a-day refinery, storage facilities for more than 14 million barrels, a marketing terminal and a marine terminal for its petroleum products.

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A COMMUNITY COMPANY AT HEARTAn integrated oil company, BAPCO is committed to the

protection of the environment and to the health and safety of its employees, contractors, customers and the surrounding community, believing that these are integral parts of its business and culture. Bahrain is rich in it’s natural heritage with the archipelago being home to more than 300 species of birds, mammals and sealife, all of which which BAPCO is heavily involved in protecting and relocating where necessary.

“We are a modern country but that does not mean we want to lose our natural heritage,”