In an agreement signed in Manama on 4 March, Bahrain state energy firm Bapco Energies announced it has chosen French giant TotalEnergies to help develop its trading and downstream operations. Under the agreement Total will help Bapco set up a trading arm, as well as support its refinery upgrade program. Plans for a trading arm were years in the making with Boston Consulting Group advising on the selection process that saw the French major beat Shell, BP, Vitol and Saudi Aramco.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné attended the signing ceremony, underlining the importance that the firm attributes to the deal. Bahrain is one of the few Middle East states in which the French major has no real footprint, beyond having signed now-lapsed preliminary agreements for unconventional appraisal work in 2019 (MEES, 3 May 2019). “I sincerely hope that this new partnership marks the beginning of a promising relationship between TotalEnergies and the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Mr Pouyanné said in Manama, adding that “we will work to extend our collaboration beyond oil and petroleum products to potential future developments in other energies, such as LNG or renewable power.” (CONTINUED - 1009 WORDS)
