Bapco Base Oil

[Ferdinando Addison]

BahrainLube Base Oil Company B.S.C. (Closed) (BLBOC) is a first company of its kind in the region when it was formed in 2009 to build a lube base oil plant manufacturing Group III base oils from the hydrocracker bottoms stream at the Bapco refinery using Chevron Lummus Global ISO Dewaxing Technology along with associated export facilities.

The production capacity of the Lube Base Oil Plant is 400,000 tonnes a year of Very High Viscosity Index (VHVI), Group III Base Oils. These products are in increasingly high demand in Europe and North America, and serve to meet the requirements of the next generation of lubricant performance and environmental standards. Commercial sales by Bapco of its own branded BAPbase base oils started in January 2018.

Chevron announced its plans to purchase the Nexbase base oils business last week. The transaction will add premium-grade Group III and Group III+ base oils to Chevron's existing portfolio of Group II base oils produced in the US at its facilities in Richmond and Pascagoula, Mississippi, and through a joint venture with GS Caltex in Yeosu, South Korea.

BAPCO was established in 1929 in Canada by Standard Oil Company of California for oil exploration activities in Bahrain.[1][2][3] It took over Bahrain's assets of Gulf Oil.[1] In 1930 it obtained the only oil concession in Bahrain.[4] BAPCO discovered first oil in 1931.[5] On 31 May 1932, the company discovered the Bahrain Field (Awali Field). After exporting oil and constructing a refinery, it started with 10,000 barrels per day (1,600 m3/d) refining capacity in 1936.[3] Later that year the Standard Oil Company of California signed an agreement with Texaco, which acquired a half of BAPCO's shares.[1] In 1975 more than 60% BAPCO's shares was acquired by the Government of Bahrain. In 1980, all BAPCO's shares were taken over by the Government of Bahrain.[1][6] In 1978 the oil sector was nationalized and BAPCO assumed full control of the national energy sector.[5] In 1999, the current Bahrain Petroleum Company was created when the Bahrain National Oil Company, established in 1976, merged with BAPCO.[1][6] In 2018 BAPCO commissioned a new pipeline that replaced the over 70 years old pipeline infrastructure between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.[3] In March 2019 construction work was started to upgrade the main oil refinery Sitra. The $5 billion project will increase the capacity to 380,000 barrels per day (60,000 m3/d).[3] Abdulrahman Jawahery is CEO of the BAPCO.[7]

In August 2021, BAPCO signed a five year agreement for catalyst management with Chevron Joint Venture for $240 million. The clean fuels group specialist Advanced Refining Technologies (ART) which is the joint venture of Chevron and W. R. Grace & Company, will supply there Resid Hyrdocracking catalyst technology for the new Resid Hydrocracking unit (1RHCU) that is to be operational by 2023.[8][9]

In 2023, BAPCO became part of the BAPCO Energies brand together with Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas), Bahrain National Gas Expansion Company (Tawseah), Bahrain Aviation Fueling Company (Bafco) Tatweer Petroleum, and Bapco Retail Company (Tazweed).[13]

The Bapco Modernisation Programme (BMP) completed the construction of the main control building in July 2023 and celebrated with a ceremony, in which for the first time ever in the Middle East a three-dimensional model of the BMP was presented. The ceremony was attended by Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was also given a tour of the facilities and briefed about further BMP project progress. The BMP was 90% complete by August 2023.[15][16]

In July 2023, Bapco Energies launched its Sustainability Linked Finance Framework, which fits into Bahrain's sustainability and climate change commitments to reduce emissions by 30% by 2035 and a net zero by 2060. In accordance with Bahrain's new energy strategy, Bapco Energies B.S.C began additional developments in August 2023 to become an energy company with fossil fuel based renewable energies. The company aims to generate 20% of Bahrain's energy from renewable sources by 2035 and continues to seek investment opportunities in renewable energy projects and carbon reduction technologies.[17][18][19]

BAPCO is an integrated oil company operating in the field of refining, and marketing. It operates a 267,000-barrel-per-day (42,400 m3/d) oil refinery which lies midway between the original BAPCO expat workers accommodation township of Awali and Sitra.[20] The complex also includes storage facilities for 14 million barrels (2.2 million cubic metres), a marketing terminal, and a marine terminal. 95% of the company's products are for exports.[5] About one-sixth of this crude originates from the Bahrain Field, with the remainder being pumped from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco supplies approximately 350,000 barrels per day (56,000 m3/d) through the 112-kilometre (70 mi) pipeline from Aramco's Abqaiq Plant.[21][22] Once the flagship Sitra refinery's expansion is completed in 2023, its capacity will be increased from 267,000 bpd to 380,000 bpd.[22][23][24]

The BAPCo test was run using its CrossMark benchmark, a multi-platform testing app that looks at overall system performance based on real-world usage patterns similar to how actual users drive their PCs on a day-to-day basis. Leaked specs show a P-Core Boost Clock of 4.8 GHz and Base Clock of 2.2 GHz, while its E-Core Boost Clock speed is 3.7 GHz.

However, we should note that the 258V is rated for a base TDP of 17W and a max turbo power of 30W. This is comparable to the ultra-low power Meteor Lake chips, like the Core Ultra 7 164U and Core Ultra 5 134U. So, it makes sense for the chip to be outperformed by its older but higher-powered cousins like the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and up. Nevertheless, it outperforms the Core Ultra 5 125H, despite the latter being rated for 28 to 115W TDP.

We should also reiterate the known fact that Lunar Lake chips will ditch Hyper-Threading technology to make its chips more power-efficient for thin-and-light laptops. Rumors indicate that the Core Ultra 7 258V will only have four P-Cores and four E-Cores, for a total of eight cores and eight threads. That means it will have fewer cores and threads than the Core Ultra 5 125H, which has four P-Cores (eight threads) and eight E-Cores.

Remember, these are benchmark results of laptops that are still under engineering development. While these numbers are indicative of how the chip could perform, note that actual performance is subject to change, depending on how well the manufacturer optimizes hardware/software for the final product. Furthermore, different laptop models will likely have some minor differences.

Bapco Energies, the energy investment arm of the Bahraini government, has launched its sustainability-linked finance framework. The framework will enable the company to link its financing with the decarbonization goals of the Kingdom and tap into the ESG investor and lender base.

The framework, which was developed in collaboration with Standard Chartered with the bank acting as the ESG advisor, will see Bapco Energies list its Scope 1 and 2 net emissions intensity reduction targets using 2017 as a baseline.

The company looks to reach net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2060. It has set staggered targets to reach this goal, with the upcoming target to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 15% by 2025.

The energy company has also set targets for reducing its absolute emissions. It hopes to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% by 2035. It is also looking to reach net-zero Scope 3 emissions within Bahrain by 2060.

Join us and members of ATIEL in the next edition of the online series and discover the latest developments in Base Oil and Lubricants from industry experts Usha Lad,

Mike Boyer, Marco Digioia and David Wright

Join us on the 17th January 2023 for our first round table of the year. Join Senior representatives from The Base Oils & Lubricants Industry discuss new & exciting topics in the industry! To see topics please download the Agenda.

Climate change is deeply impacting many businesses and such is the case for the lubricant industry. One major change is the electric mobility that will drastically reduce Internal Combustion Engines and their associated lubricants. New fluids have to be designed for Battery Electric Vehicles.

This talk will present the impact of this electric revolution on fluid design. This will be illustrated by the example of battery fluid where specific fluids have been developed to offer ultra-fast charging and safety increase to the end user. Experimental and numerical approaches will be presented, and the global performance of the battery thermal management using such fluids will be assessed (weight, power consumption, etc.)

Group II base oils help enable formulation optimisation for tightening specifications while helping blenders meet requirements in the European Green Deal. Growing supply availability and reliability are making Group II base oils the bedrock of the European lubricant market.

In the beginning of presentation, the overview of a global ecolabelling network will be given. The global ecolabelling network is composed of 29 ecolabelling organisations throughout the world which represent nearly 60 countries and territories.

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