Bahrain Hones Refining Energy Efficiency as Tighter Margins Loom

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Written by Richard Finlayson, senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Bahrain's Energy Minister Abdulhussain Mirza said that there are genuine concerns among industry observers that the rate of oil-refining capacity additions worldwide were outpacing the expected growth rate in demand for refined products.

"They genuinely feel this overcapacity might lead to tighter refinery margins, which in turn would dry up investment in modernization and new ventures," he said at a Middle East refining and petrochemicals conference.

Bahrain was looking at its refinery capacity beyond 2012 to give it a competitive advantage and a better position to capture the opportunities that future market environments may offer, he added.

Pointing to growing demand in the Middle East, the minister said that in 2000 the region accounted for 6.6% of world consumption; currently, the figure is at 9%.

By 2015, about $530 billion will be invested in the energy industries in the Middle East, and 60% of those investments would be in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Bahrain would attract about $20 billion over the next 15 years. As part of Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030, the country's National Oil and Gas Authority will invest more than $25 million a year on training staff to attain the skills necessary to run Bahraini's future economy.

The minister said that between $8 billion and $20 billion will be invested in the modernization of its refinery. In the refinery master plan project, new units already have been added, such as the hydrocracker (2007) and lube-based oil plants (2010).The upgraded refinery will meet the product quality demands, environmental and energy efficiency standards of the future, said the minister.

Two pilot 5-MW wind and solar plants will be built to point the way of renewables as a mainstay of Bahrain's energy future.

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