Company Insights Bahrain Petroleum Company Oil & Gas Bahrain Petroleum Company Overview The Bahrain Petroleum Company – or Bapco – was founded in 1929 in Canada by Standard Oil Company of California to undertake oil exploration in Bahrain. It was given the only oil concession in Bahrain in 1930, and the first oil was discovered in the country in 1931. The first ever shipment of Bahrain crude oil was exported to Japan from the Sitra terminal in 1934. In 1997 the Bahraini government bought all the remaining shares of Bapco. It operates under the Bapco Energies umbrella. The Tatweer Petroleum Company was formed in 2010 and by 2018 all of Bapco’s upstream activity was transferred to Tatweer, allowing Bapco to focus its operations on downstream activity. Bapco produces more than 54 million barrels of crude oil and more than 80 million barrels of refined petroleum products a year. Bapco Refining owns a 267,000 barrels-per-day refinery, with five sixths of the crude pumped from Saudi Arabia. Over 85 percent of Bapco Refining’s refined products and crude oil is exported to countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and South East Asia. Bahrain Petroleum Company News Economy Fitch lowers Bahrain outlook on rising debt levels Fitch, one of three influential ratings agencies, has placed Bahrain on a negative outlook amid growing concerns over increasing debt, low levels of foreign currency and high budget deficits. Debt is projected to rise from 130 percent in 2024 to 136 percent of GDP in 2026 “with a continued upward trajectory over the medium term”, […] February 24, 2025 Oil & Gas Shell to relocate Madrid gas trading team to Dubai Shell plans to close its Madrid gas trading operations for tax reasons, Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias has reported. Citing unnamed sources, the report said Shell planned to relocate its gas trading staff of 50 people to Dubai, London and Singapore. The staff includes a team handling commercial activities. The Madrid operations were originally part of […] January 15, 2025 Analysis Oil & Gas UAE to shake up old world order as oil trading centre For years, Geneva, London, Amsterdam and Singapore have been the preferred homes of middlemen helping to move crude oil and its derivatives around the world. But recent geopolitical and economic shifts have paved the way for the UAE to emerge as a trading powerhouse, attracting international talent and rivalling the old world order. The UAE […] December 20, 2024 Oil & Gas BlackRock buys stake in Saudi-Bahraini oil pipeline Bahrain’s state-run Bapco Energies has sold a minority stake in an oil pipeline linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to a fund managed by US investment bank BlackRock. The BlackRock Diversified Infrastructure fund purchased a stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Co (SBPC), which owns a section of the 112-km pipeline. It supplies crude oil from […] September 12, 2024 Renewable Energy Bahrain signs deal with Masdar to develop wind energy UAE clean energy company Masdar has formed a partnership with Bahrain’s Bapco Energies to explore the development of wind energy projects in Bahrain. The two companies will develop up to two gigawatts (GW) in near-shore and offshore wind farms, Masdar said. The collaboration will help Bahrain accelerate the decarbonisation of its critical industrial sectors. Energy, […] May 1, 2024 Oil & Gas US approves $500m loan for Bahrain oil project The US export credit agency has approved a $500 million loan guarantee for Bahraini state-backed Bapco Energies. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim) board of directors greenlit the project after voting last month to notify Congress about potentially supporting the expansion of an oil and gas field in the Gulf nation. JP Morgan […] March 15, 2024 Analysis Energy Bahrain reboots oil and gas to reduce debt and CO2 Bahrain is taking steps to address economic challenges by relaunching its oil and gas holding company as Bapco Energies, with a focus on greater efficiencies and a low-carbon future. The island kingdom’s sovereign rating is one of only two sub-investment grade ratings in the Gulf – with challenges ranging from ageing domestic oil fields to […] June 12, 2023 Analysis Employment We can work it out: the future for the GCC’s labour markets “Help wanted” signs are going up all over the Gulf as employers seek to expand their workforces and attract migrant labourers. This hiring spree is not the kind of free-for-all seen in previous oil booms, however. In Saudi Arabia, for example, overseas workers make up more than 70 percent of the labour market, but their […] November 22, 2022 Economy Bahrain’s hospitality sector grows 18%, helping Q2 GDP up 6.9% Bahrain’s gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, posting the biggest annual increase since 2011, Bahrain News Agency reported, citing the Ministry of Finance and National Economy. The positive economic growth was driven by the strong performance of the non-oil sectors targeted by the Economic Recovery Plan. The hotels […] September 26, 2022 Analysis Energy Doubling oil output may prove a challenge too far Four years after announcing a giant discovery of 80 billion barrels of oil shale and 20 trillion cubic feet of gas off the coast of Bahrain, Manama has yet to make a final decision on whether to push ahead with what would be an expensive and challenging project. The offshore basin, which wraps around the […] August 10, 2022 Posts navigation
Economy Fitch lowers Bahrain outlook on rising debt levels Fitch, one of three influential ratings agencies, has placed Bahrain on a negative outlook amid growing concerns over increasing debt, low levels of foreign currency and high budget deficits. Debt is projected to rise from 130 percent in 2024 to 136 percent of GDP in 2026 “with a continued upward trajectory over the medium term”, […] February 24, 2025
Oil & Gas Shell to relocate Madrid gas trading team to Dubai Shell plans to close its Madrid gas trading operations for tax reasons, Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias has reported. Citing unnamed sources, the report said Shell planned to relocate its gas trading staff of 50 people to Dubai, London and Singapore. The staff includes a team handling commercial activities. The Madrid operations were originally part of […] January 15, 2025
Analysis Oil & Gas UAE to shake up old world order as oil trading centre For years, Geneva, London, Amsterdam and Singapore have been the preferred homes of middlemen helping to move crude oil and its derivatives around the world. But recent geopolitical and economic shifts have paved the way for the UAE to emerge as a trading powerhouse, attracting international talent and rivalling the old world order. The UAE […] December 20, 2024
Oil & Gas BlackRock buys stake in Saudi-Bahraini oil pipeline Bahrain’s state-run Bapco Energies has sold a minority stake in an oil pipeline linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to a fund managed by US investment bank BlackRock. The BlackRock Diversified Infrastructure fund purchased a stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Co (SBPC), which owns a section of the 112-km pipeline. It supplies crude oil from […] September 12, 2024
Renewable Energy Bahrain signs deal with Masdar to develop wind energy UAE clean energy company Masdar has formed a partnership with Bahrain’s Bapco Energies to explore the development of wind energy projects in Bahrain. The two companies will develop up to two gigawatts (GW) in near-shore and offshore wind farms, Masdar said. The collaboration will help Bahrain accelerate the decarbonisation of its critical industrial sectors. Energy, […] May 1, 2024
Oil & Gas US approves $500m loan for Bahrain oil project The US export credit agency has approved a $500 million loan guarantee for Bahraini state-backed Bapco Energies. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim) board of directors greenlit the project after voting last month to notify Congress about potentially supporting the expansion of an oil and gas field in the Gulf nation. JP Morgan […] March 15, 2024
Analysis Energy Bahrain reboots oil and gas to reduce debt and CO2 Bahrain is taking steps to address economic challenges by relaunching its oil and gas holding company as Bapco Energies, with a focus on greater efficiencies and a low-carbon future. The island kingdom’s sovereign rating is one of only two sub-investment grade ratings in the Gulf – with challenges ranging from ageing domestic oil fields to […] June 12, 2023
Analysis Employment We can work it out: the future for the GCC’s labour markets “Help wanted” signs are going up all over the Gulf as employers seek to expand their workforces and attract migrant labourers. This hiring spree is not the kind of free-for-all seen in previous oil booms, however. In Saudi Arabia, for example, overseas workers make up more than 70 percent of the labour market, but their […] November 22, 2022
Economy Bahrain’s hospitality sector grows 18%, helping Q2 GDP up 6.9% Bahrain’s gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, posting the biggest annual increase since 2011, Bahrain News Agency reported, citing the Ministry of Finance and National Economy. The positive economic growth was driven by the strong performance of the non-oil sectors targeted by the Economic Recovery Plan. The hotels […] September 26, 2022
Analysis Energy Doubling oil output may prove a challenge too far Four years after announcing a giant discovery of 80 billion barrels of oil shale and 20 trillion cubic feet of gas off the coast of Bahrain, Manama has yet to make a final decision on whether to push ahead with what would be an expensive and challenging project. The offshore basin, which wraps around the […] August 10, 2022
