Over its 80-year legacy, the Bahrain Petroleum Company has forged on from strength to strength with the force of a juggernaut. Pioneering the discovery of oil in the Arabian Peninsula, Bapco began exporting its produce two years after its inception in 1932, and then commenced refining activities another two years later in 1936.
Since its primitive days, Bapco has majorly contributed to forming the kingdom that we live in today not simply through the bolstering of Bahrain’s economy, but importantly, through the training and development of Bahrain’s manual resources, who have developed into highly skilled and sought-after entities over the years, occupying places of prominence today in the government as well as the oil and gas industry in general. Close to a century after the first trace of oil was discovered on the shores of the island, its legacy continues to be written page after page with larger-than-life ambition paving the way for tremendous achievements in the advancement of the oil and gas sector, primarily in both the exploration as well as the economy sides of the business.
Today, Bapco is wholly owned by the Government of Bahrain and serves as one of the leaders in the regional oil and gas scenario, accounting for a massive portion of the Middle East’s energy-related activities. Its staggering work force is engaged primarily in refining, distribution of petroleum products and natural gas, sales and export of crude oil and refined products among much more. The organization owns a 260,000 barrel-a-day refinery, storage facilities for more than 14 million barrels, a marketing terminal, and a marine terminal for its petroleum products.
About one-sixth of this crude originates from Bahrain Field, with the remainder being pumped from Saudi Arabia in pipelines extending 27 kilometers over land and a further 27 kilometers under the sea before reaching the northwest coastline of Bahrain. Ninety-five per cent of refined products produced by Bapco are exports, with a major portion of its customer base being constituted by the Middle East, India, the Far East, South East Asia and Africa.
Further, Bapco carries out extensive studies on a continuous basis at the offshore to explore new oil and gas reserves and obtain more accurate data on the existing reserves with the use of advanced techniques.The company churns out high-quality Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Naphtha, Gasoline, Kerosene, Aviation Turbine Fuel, Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel, Heavy Lube Distillate, Fuel Oil and Asphalt, which form the core of its business.
Aside from its vast exporting activities and petroleum production and sales, Bapco also plays a paramount role in the local energy scene, supplying and selling aviation fuel at the Bahrain International Airport through its affiliate, The Bahrain Aviation Fueling Company (BAFCO), in which the company is a 60 percent shareholder. Bapco also provides the full requirements of natural gas to power generating plants and other industries in the kingdom.
In training and development initiatives, Bapco continually places prime importance on training the youth of Bahrain and bringing out the best in their talents and efforts, many of their initiatives being career-driven, and comprising invaluable components like hands-on training and top notch industrial mentorship. Bapco has also supported Injaz Bahrain consistently, a national activity – based program that furnishes Bahrainis with vital life skills. Volunteers are assigned to Injaz from the company’s vast workforce, who engages in various comprehensive activities like classroom presentations and developmental tasks, as well as playing host to students at numerous venues around Bahrain. Students are also granted the opportunity to pursue their postgraduate education in the UK, courtesy Bapco’s scholarship programs.
Bapco is also a proud organizer, an EHS champion and undoubtedly a national headliner which strives to highlight key EHS issues throughout the course of its day-to-day activities and the overall functioning of the company. It has initiated many tremendous achievements and continues to make great strides towards the betterment of the environment as well as propagating and inspiring the public to practice safety and take necessary health precautions as part of their lifestyles. Over the past few years, there have been numerous achievements by Bapco on the EHS front, a few of them being the The Princess Sabeeka Park in Awali which was inaugurated in February 2010, the multi-million dollar Refinery Gas Desulphurisation Project (RGDP), the Bapco Green School Award run in association with the Ministry of Education, and the EHS Family Day, a periodic inclusion in Bapco’s year-round Environment, Health and Safety campaign.
With sprawling ambition and a stalwart work force at the helm of proceedings, the Bahrain Petroleum Company is poised better than ever to make great strides in the development of Bahrain’s economy in the times to come.
Bapco also fuels a sport-charged nation, with the sponsorship of the hugely successful Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Air Show (BIAS) and the Khaleeji 21 football tournament, among others.
Source: Saudi Gazette