Page 11 - DMEA Week 45
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DMEA ReFininG DMEA
Mid-2022 seen as end date for BAPCO refinery upgrade
middle east
BAhRAIN Petroleum Co. (BAPCO) is expect- ing to complete its major refinery upgrade and modernisation project in mid-2022, nearly a year ahead of schedule.
Speaking to MEED on the sidelines of a con- ference in Manama, BAPCO chairman Dawood Nassif said that the project was around 30% complete.
“This project is progressing. We expect com- pletion by mid-2022, which makes this refinery one of the most advanced refineries not only in the region but anywhere,” he said.
the $6bn refinery upgrade programme kicked off earlier this year.
the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on the so-called BAPCO Modernisation Project was awarded for $4.2bn to a consortium of London-listed tech- nipFMC, South Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Spain’s tecnicas Reunidas.
This calls for an increase in capacity from 267,000 barrels per day to 360,000 bpd and the installation of new units for the production of cleaner, higher-value fuels.
In July, BAPCO CEO Dr Pete Bartlett said that $1bn of the anticipated total outlay of $6bn had been spent as the firm seeks to upgrade and expand the facility. the modernised refinery was previously scheduled to be commissioned by early 2023.
Nassif added: “We are very optimistic. Financing has been closed earlier this year [and]
the project is progressing; it is a huge project by any standards and it is being handled by world- class contractors.”
the flagship refinery runs primarily on around 225,000 bpd of Arabian Light crude, which is piped from the processing facilities at Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia, which clean and remove sand and sulphur from the crude. BAPCO and Saudi Aramco commissioned phase four of the A-B oil pipeline, taking total capacity to 350,000 bpd.
the September attacks at Abqaiq saw BAPCO shut in parts of the Sitrah unit. A 22,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) was closed completely, while another CDU, a 10,200 bpd vacuum distillation unit and a 24,000 bpd vis- breaker unit cut utilisation rates to 45%, accord- ing to the Reuters sources.
lobbying
the UK’s Guardian newspaper revealed in October that two former Conservative prime ministers had lobbied the Bahraini royal family to award one of the refinery deals to Petrofac, which is headed up by a major party donor.
In March 2017, the report said, Theresa May had written to the Bahraini prime minister to support Petrofac in bidding for the EPC work.
Fellow former prime minister David Cam- eron had promoted the company during a two- day visit to Bahrain in January 2017, when he met with the crown prince.
Refiner Tupras falls to Q3 net loss
middle east
tURKEy’S largest refiner tupras has reported a net loss of turkish lira (tRy) 156mn for the third quarter versus a net profit of tRy542mn for the same period of last year.
Revenues declined nearly 23% on an annual basis to tRy23.3bn in the quarter.
The company’s operating profit dropped 24% y/y to tRy608mn. Financial expenses increased to tRy817mn from tRy171mn
“The decline in Q3 profit was driven by nar- row differentials and natural gas price hikes,” tupras said in a presentation on its website.
The company sold a total of 7.8mn tonnes of products (including exports) in Q3, down from 8.7m tonnes a year earlies. Its sales on the domes- tic market declined to 6.4mn tonnes from 7.7mn
tonnes while shipments to foreign markets inched up to 1.4mn tonnes from 1mn tonnes.
The company also reported that its 9-month net income plunged to tRy340mn from tRy1.95bn in the same period of 2018 despite the 7% y/y increase in revenues to tRy68bn.
Data also showed that tupras’s operating expenses soared 43% y/y in the first nine months of the year to hit tRy1.24bn.
tupras is targeting the sale of around 30mn tonnes of products this year while its output target for 2019 is around 28mn tonnes. It has forecast that its capacity utilisation rate will be between 95% and 100% this year. the com- pany is investing some $150mn in refining operations.
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