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CHAPTER THREE
Arab And World Developments
2-2 Bahrain
BahrainPetroleumCompany’s (Bapco) boardof directors approved
the company’s plan to raise the capacity of Sitra refinery to 450,000
b/d from the current 267,000 b/d at a cost of about $6-8 billion. The
refinery expansion is one of Bahrain’s most significant projects,
as the company will replace inefficient facilities with updated and
environmentally friendly technologies. The project will enhance
the production of middle distillate such as kerosene and diesel. This
necessitates installing a new cocker unit to convert the heavy residue
into valuable products, such as gasoline ultra low sulfur diesel which
could be sold to European and Asian markets.
The expansion of the refinery will also open up new opportunities
for vertical integration that a few years from now Bahrain will be
able to develop a petrochemical complex.
2-3 Egypt
Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), the overseas investment unit of
state firm Qatar Petroleum (QP) has announced will join a $3.7 billion
project to build sophisticated new processing units alongside the Cairo
Oil Refining Company’s (CORC ) 160,000 b/d refinery at Musturud.
The Egyptian Refining Company (ERC ) has been formed to build
the new units at Musturud. These will convert around 93,000 b/d
of low quality products purchased at international prices from the
existing Musturud refinery into high quality refined products.
Output of the project will include almost 50,000 b/d of ultra
low sulphur diesel (ULSD) with the aim of slashing Egypt’s diesel
imports by 50% and improving Cairo’s air quality.
