Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) is still dragging its feet on the much-delayed plan to expand its 267,000 b/d Sitra refinery, the kingdom’s only refining asset, to about 360,000 b/d.

Bapco CEO, ‘Adil al-Muayyid, tells MEES on the sidelines of the Petrotech expo in Manama that the expansion plans are currently in front-end engineering and design (FEED) evaluation. He expects FEED contracts to be awarded within two to three months, but the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase will take a bit more time. “I don’t expect it to take place soon,” Mr Muayyid says. “Normally, the FEED studies and bid documents will take, I would say, a good part of 2015. If we move with the EPC in 2016, it could be 2019 for completion.” (CONTINUED - 1047 WORDS)