Oil Minister opens BBTC Middle East and Africa Conference

Minister of Oil His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa opened on October 26 ‘Bottom of the Barrel Technology Conference - Middle East and Africa’ held at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain. The event was organized by Euro Petroleum Consultants and Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) in collaboration with the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA). The event was supported by a number of international and Gulf oil companies in the presence of a large number of experts, engineers and oil industry enthusiasts.

The Minister said that choosing the Kingdom of Bahrain as the venue to hold the global conference strengthened its position as a major hub in the region for hosting specialized events and highlighted the positive role played by the government and outstanding facilities provided in the promotion of economic and tourism activities.

The Minister said that residue upgrading had become increasingly important to our industry and the region, especially in light of challenges faced by the refineries which process heavier crudes, where the simple challenge of increasing the overall conversion of all crude residues into valuable distillates.

The steady decline in world crude oil at the end of 2015 has challenged us to look at the oil industry in an increasingly flexible approach, he said. In a low-oil price environment, refiners look for low-cost projects with high returns, such as debottlenecking projects, infrastructure improvements and crude flexibility. Here in the Kingdom, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) is modernizing the Refinery and turning it more environmentally friendly so as to increase efficiency and value added products. The government of Bahrain was seeking to increase the production capacity of the refinery with the introduction of the latest technology to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. The Bahrain Refinery modernization project was one of the strategic projects aimed to raise the level of refinery production of clean, value-added and eco-friendly products.

H.E. Shaikh Mohammed said that the National Oil and Gas Authority would spare no effort to embrace similar specialist oil events in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He expressed his appreciation to the conference organiser Conference organizer Euro Petroleum Consultants and Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) and all sponsors for their great support in making it a highly professional one, and supporting the reputation earned by the Kingdom of Bahrain for international conferences and other industry events. He also thanked the speakers and heads of delegations of various technical sessions and wished all delegates every success and a pleasant stay in the country.

Also speaking at the opening session were Mr. Stefan Chapman, Vice President of Euro Petroleum Consultants, Mr. Raheel Shafi from NEXANT, Mr. Chandra Sekhar from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) and Engineer Faten Taqi from Kuwait National Petroleum Company and Mr. Pedro da Silva from SATORP.