Official data reveals that the Kingdom of Bahrain imported Saudi crude oil worth $7.4bn in 2014, Bahrain-based Al Wasat Newspaper reports.
Bahrain imports about 230,000 barrels per day (around 80 million barrels per year) from Saudi Arabia to refine at BAPCO Bahrain refinery, in order to produce refined fuel products like diesel, benzene, kerosene and jet fuel.
Bahrain benefits from the refining operations by supplying local markets with their needs for fuel products, along with exporting products to international markets and benefiting from high profit margins.
Bahrain, represented by BAPCO, and Saudi Arabia, represented by ARAMCO, seek to replace the oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, with another 110-kilometre long pipeline with a total capacity of 350,000 barrels per day.
According to official data issued by the National Oil and Gas Authority, the BAPCO refinery refined 100.23m barrels in 2014.
It is worth mentioning that BAPCO’s refining capacity ranges between 250,000 and 270,000 bpd, as it imports about 220,000 bpd from Saudi Arabia and it refines about 40,000 bpd from Bahrain Oil Field.
The National Oil and Gas Authority spoke earlier about its vision and plans to raise the refining capacity of Bahrain refinery to more than 400,000 bpd by 2018, along with the possibility of raising the production capacity of special oil from Bahrain’s oil field to 100,000 bpd.
Bahrain refinery will be facing pressures due to a drop in international prices and in refining profit margins, but it will manage to keep its competitive position and continue its production by benefiting from its products, according to economists.Â
