Projects published on Beta are not final and may contain programming errors. They are for public testing and comment only. We welcome your feedback. For final products, please visit www.eia.gov.

Feedback
‹ World

Bahrain  

Select Country / Region 

Last Updated: December 2016

Overview


Map of Bahrain
Map of Bahrain
  • The Kingdom of Bahrain is the smallest oil producer among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations.
  • Bahrain and Oman are the only two countries bordering the Persian Gulf which are not members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
  • Bahrain’s oil and natural gas resources are governed by the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA). NOGA controls multiple subsidiary companies, including the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), the Bahrain National Gas Company (BANAGAS), and the Tatweer Petroleum Company.

    • Petroleum and other liquids

  • The Kingdom of Bahrain receives revenues from two oil fields: the onshore Bahrain (Awali) field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is jointly shared with Saudi Arabia. The Bahrain field, managed by the Tatweer Petroleum Company, produced around 50,500 b/d of crude oil in 2015, up from 48,800 b/d in 2014.
  • Bahrain and Saudi Arabia split annual revenues from the 300,000 b/d Abu Safah offshore field in Saudi Arabia as a result of a 1958 political agreement. Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, oversees production at the field. Bahrain refines and markets half of the output from Abu Safah, which is connected to Bahrain’s Sitra refinery via pipeline. In 2015, Bahrain received 151,000 b/d of Abu Safah crude oil from Saudi Arabia.
  • Refinery capacity in Bahrain exceeds domestic crude oil production capacity. The country has a single export refinery- the 267,000 b/d facility at Sitra. Roughly 17% of the refinery’s crude oil originates from the Bahrain Field, while the bulk of crude oil feedstock is imported from Saudi Arabia. BAPCO plans to increase the refinery’s capacity to 360,000 b/d by 2020, an expansion that will include a new gasoline blending operation.
  • In conjunction with the refinery expansion, Bahrain plans to construct a 350,000 pipeline linking the Sitra refinery with crude oil feedstock from Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq plant. The new pipeline, scheduled for completion by 2018, will replace the aging pipeline from Dhahran in Saudi Arabia.

    • Natural Gas

  • As with oil, the country is a minor producer of natural gas, and Bahrain consumes all of its gas output. Bahrain produced 549 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of marketed natural gas in 2015, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2016. Most of this gas production originates from the Bahrain Field in the form of non-associated gas.
  • Natural gas fuels all of Bahrain’s power plants. The country’s power sector consumes around 50%, and the industrial sector consumes about 33% of total natural gas demand. Bahrain’s Sitra refinery is also a heavy natural gas consumer, accounting for around 10% of the country’s total gas demand.
  • To meet the country’s increasing natural gas demand, Bahrain plans to construct a 145 Bcf/y floating liquefied natural gas import facility by 2018.

    • Electricity

  • Bahrain has nearly 4 gigawatts (GW) of installed generating capacity. Electricity demand in the country is growing rapidly, fueled by population growth and expansion of the industrial sector. To meet these needs, Bahrain is investing in several new power projects, including a 1.5 GW expansion to the Al Dur power plant. Industrial power projects are also under construction, such as a new 1.8 GW power plant to supply Aluminum Bahrain (Alba).
  • Bahrain has set a target for generating 5% of capacity from renewable sources by 2020. To this end, Bahrain is constructing two 5 MW solar plants, and a 25 MW waste-to-energy plant.
  • Bahrain is taking part in the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) plan to integrate the electric power grids of all GCC countries. As part of this project, three new transmission stations are planned for 2017, upgrading Bahrain’s network from 220 kilovolts (KV) to 400 KV.