Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has appointed France’s BNP Paribas as adviser on planned $2bn Sitra refinery expansion.

The expansion of the Sitra refinery is intended to expand capacity from about 262,000 barrels a day (b/d) to between 500,000-600,000 b/d.

A group of four banks responded to the request for proposals in late March, including the UK’s HSBC, and the US’ JP Morgan and Citigroup. In late June, Bapco shortlisted HSBC and BNP Paribas for the deal.

The Sitra refinery is the only oil refinery in Bahrain and was built in 1936. The additional capacity of the refinery will be taken up by oil coming in to Bahrain through a new pipeline from Saudi Arabia.