Bahrain state oil firm Bapco has awarded a $4.2bn engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract to France’s Technip FMC, Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas for the long-planned Bapco Modernization Program.

The project involves expanding the crude processing capacity of Bapco’s Sitra refinery from 267,000 b/d to 360,000 b/d, while installing upgrading units to enable processing of the ‘bottom of the barrel’ and improved products quality. Almost all of Sitra output is exported. When it began the bidding process Bapco was looking to award EPCC in 1H 2017, with a view to having the plant fully operational by end-2020. Now TechnipFMC says the project is “slated for completion in 2022.” (CONTINUED - 383 WORDS)