Bahrain’s Bapco completes multibillion-dollar financing

Around 88 percent of the crude that Bapco refines comes from neighboring Saudi Arabia, and the rest from Bahrain’s field. (File/Courtesy of Bapco)

DUBAI: State-run Bahrain Petroleum Co. (Bapco) has completed a multibillion-dollar financing aimed at expanding its refining capacity to 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 267,000 bpd.
Bahrain, a small non-OPEC Gulf oil producer with around 124.6 million barrels of proven reserves, gets its oil revenue from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared with Saudi Arabia.
Around 88 percent of the crude that Bapco refines comes from neighboring Saudi Arabia, and the rest from Bahrain’s field.
The refinery’s expansion is projected to be completed by 2022, Bapco said in a statement on Sunday.
It did not disclose the size of the financing, but sources previously told Reuters it was over $4 billion.
Five export credit agencies and a syndicate of 21 commercial banks — regional and international — took part in the financing, which includes conventional and Islamic loans, Bapco said.
BNP Paribas, HSBC Middle East and Verus Partners advised the firm on the deal.