Bahrain National Gas Company B.S.C. (BANAGAS)

The Corporate profile provides a summary of Bahrain National Gas Company B.S.C. (BANAGAS) activities and an overview of key products and services.

On the 17^th of December 1979 His Highness Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the late Amir of Bahrain, inaugurated the Associated Gas Project marking a major step in the Government of Bahrain’s determination to use energy effectively.  The primary objective of this project was to process the large quantities of associated gas extracted from the Bahrain Oil Field into marketable products, supply residue gas for local industrial use and to provide employment and training opportunities to Bahraini nationals.

The Project was incorporated as the Bahrain National Gas Company B.S.C. (BANAGAS), 75% owned by the Government of Bahrain with the remaining 25% equally owned by the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) (now Boubyan) and Caltex Bahrain (now Chevron Bahrain).  At a cost of US$100 million the project included the construction of four gas compressor stations, a processing plant to recover Propane, Butane and Naphtha, and a storage area at Sitra.

The first shipment of 5,000 metric tons of Butane was made in March 1980.  Since then, the Company has continued to produce products conforming to the highest international specifications which are exported worldwide.

Due to a substantial increase in the quantity of associated gas extracted from the Bahrain Oil Field, an Expansion Project was launched in 1988 to upgrade plant processing capacity from 170 to 280 MMSCFD.  The Project, which was implemented by the Government of Bahrain as a sole venture, involved construction of two additional compressor stations and a new processing train at the Central Gas Plant. The Project was commissioned in October 1990.

Another compressor station was constructed in 2003 as part of the Project to process additional quantities of associated gas, as well as Propane and Butane-rich Refinery Off Gas (“ROG”) under an agreement with the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).

In 2008, the Project was converted into an independent company, the Bahrain National Gas Expansion Company S.P.C., solely owned by the Oil and Gas Holding Company (Nogaholding). The Expansion Company is operated and managed by BANAGAS under a Management and Operating Agreement

APICORP’s shareholding was acquired by Boubyan Petrochemical Company, a Kuwaiti Shareholding Company in 2011.

In 2013 another compressor station was commissioned together with a new Central Control room on the Central Gas Plant followed a year later by the debottlenecking of the Central Gas Plants to process 285 MMSCD of associated gas and 18 MMSCD of ROG.

In 2016 Contract Agreements were signed with JGC of Japan to build an additional Gas Processing train, with a capacity of 350 MMSCFD to process the additional associated gas available in the Bahrain oil field and to recompress and re-inject residue gas black into the reservoir together with the installation of addition transport pipelines, land reclamation at the Sitra Storage Area and installation of two additional storage tanks, 200,000 bbls for propane and 100,000 bbls for Butane. In addition a consultant was appointed to oversee construction of a 66KV substation.

BANAGAS is certified to international standards ISO 9001:2015 (“Quality Management System”), OHSAS 18001:2007 (“Occupational Health and Safety Management”), ISO 14001:2004 (“Environmental Management System”) and ISO 20000 (“Information Technology Management System”).