Al Mahroos, a seasoned oil and gas expert with 35 year experience, was described by the Minister Dr Mirza as a living encyclopaedia of the industry thanked Guillaume Doane, Regional Director of The Oil and Gas Year publication who presented the Bapco CEO with Man of the Year Award.
Guillaume said that it was just two years ago that TOGY publication first came to Bahrain to produce its first edition on the Kingdom’s oil and gas sector.
Following is the full script of his speech: “I was a country editor then, responsible for researching in full the ins and outs of the energy industry. I knew then as I know now that Bahrain had a distinguished petroleum legacy. On the main road in the desert, I passed several patchworks of rusty pipelines and I arrived at an old oil well with a plaque in front of it that read as Jabal Ad Dukhan No. 1, first drilled on October 16, 1931 and struck oil June 1, 1932 with an initial flow rate 400 barrels per hour. I knew then as I know now that I was standing next to an important piece of history. The well is now plugged and abandoned, but oil from the field in Awali still flows, more than 80 years since it was the first petroleum discovery in the entire Arabian Gulf. Its production peaked in the 1970s and over time its performance has languished, going the way of many oilfields that reach their age of maturity and then slowly fade into obsolescence. But through careful planning, Bahrain has reversed this trend. The Awali field is now the subject of a painstaking oil recovery programme that will soon see the reservoirs resume peak output. This includes tripling oil production and doubling gas production within 20 years. In its first 78 years, the Bahrain Field saw 800 wells drilled in total. By 2030, the development plan could include an additional 3,600 wells. Already after one full year, the redevelopment of the field increased total production averages to levels not seen since 1977.
“For Bahrain, this is a significant accomplishment. The Awali field is a centrepiece of the kingdom’s economic prosperity and a critical source of continuity. I was stunned earlier this year to learn that the field could still have beyond 1 billion barrels of oil in place. This should of course not go to waste.
“We have always been impressed by Bahrain’s commitment to making every drop of oil, every unit of gas count to the end. This requires a special sense of care and stewardship. It requires a vigilant guardian, one with a complete dedication to protecting its resources at all cost. The Bahrain Petroleum Company, which has existed nearly as long as the Awali field has produced oil, has been this guardian. It has shepherded the field through its best years and kept it alive until today. Over this time, Bapco has evolved as well, emerging as the country’s supreme operator of oil activities and later becoming a supervisor for Bahrain’s upstream activities. Today we honour Faisal Al Mahroos, CEO of Bapco, for presiding over Bapco through this critical transition. Al Mahroos, who joined Bapco as a petroleum engineer in 1976, has calmly guided his company through this period of growth since he became CEO in 2009. As Man of the Year, Al Mahroos was an instrumental figure in major achievements that took place in 2011. Among them was oil production in Bahrain reaching its highest levels in more than three decades. This is of course only the beginning, as the Tatweer consortium, supplied with 350 skilled workers from Bapco, is working to triple oil production of the field in Awali. During this time, Bapco will focus on a host of upcoming projects, including the upgrade of the refinery in Sitra. We are sure that whatever work that lies ahead, the company will continue to be the trusted guardian of Bahrain’s petroleum sector.”