Saudi Aramco, Bapco set to ink deal on $300 mln pipeline

Saudi Aramco and Bahrain Petroleum Co. (Bapco) are set to sign a deal Thursday to begin construction of a $300 million pipeline between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to supply Bapco’s refinery with crude oil, Al-Wasat newspaper quoted Bahrain energy minister Abdulhussain Mirza as saying.

Mirza said the pipeline project would be built in three phases, with the first phase in Saudi Arabia, second between the kingdom and Bahrain, while the third one would be inside Bahrain.

The 115-km pipeline will run 42 km offshore and 73 km onshore, and will replace the current aging crude oil pipeline. The pipeline will run between Aramco’s Abqaiq plant and Bapco’s Sitra refinery off the coast of Bahrain.

Bahrain currently imports 230,000 barrels of oil per day from the kingdom.