Bahrain delays decision on Sitra oil export facility

27 May 2010

Final decision still pending after no agreement made at April shareholder meeting

Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has delayed making a final investment decision on its $150m oil storage and export facilities project on Sitra island, sources close to the scheme tell MEED.

Bapco originally intended to make its decision on 6 April in a meeting with its partners on the project, Saudi-based Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), Bahrain’s Holding Company for Oil & Gas and Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group (IPG). No decision was made, however, at the meeting.

“They were meant to make a decision on the facility in April, but discussions are still ongoing as the management is still in the process of reviewing the project”, says a source close to the scheme.

The partners signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2007. If the investment is finally approved, the partners will tender an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract covering the construction of the facilities in mid-June, one source says. Up to 17 engineering firms have been prequalified to bid on the contract (MEED 25:3:10).

The project in the north east of the island will have an initial storage capacity of 625,000 cubic metres.

In January, the company held discussions with the front-end engineering and design (Feed) contractor on the project, Singapore-based Audex. The company prepared the tender documents for the project to clarify a number of design issues. The talks were completed at the end of February.

The UAE’s Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) carried out the initial feasibility study for the project along with Apicorp and IPG.

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