Saudi Aramco and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) have announced the successful commissioning of the AB-4 pipeline, a new phase of the strategic pipeline transporting crude oil from Aramco to Bahrain to meet Manama’s growing energy demand.

The new 112 kilometer-long pipeline originates from Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq plants and terminates at Bapco’s Sitra refinery in Bahrain.

The estimated cost of the new pipeline project is about $400m.

The AB-4 pipeline has a diameter of 30 inches and is capable of transporting up to 350,000 barrels a day (b/d) of crude oil.

In January, Bahrain’s Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa had affirmed that the pipeline will be completed by year-end.

The commissioning of the new pipeline means the old pipeline which has fed Aramco crude to the Sitra refinery, and had a lower capacity of 230,000 b/d has now been decommissioned.

The AB-4 pipeline consists of three segments: a 42 kilometre onshore Saudi segment, 28 kilometre Bahrain onshore segment, and a 42 kilometre offshore segment.

The AB-4 pipeline is 100 kilometres longer than the old pipeline and moves flow away from residential areas which were uninhabited when the old one was first built in 1945.

In a statement, Aramco says the new pipeline is equipped with the technologies to ensure safety, environmental protection and hydrocarbon supply reliability for decades.