Bahrain’s integrated energy firm Bapco Energies on Sunday declared force majeure on its group operation that have been affected by the war in the Middle East.
Bapco Energies, which operates the Kingdom of Bahrain’s only refinery, announced the force majeure “on its Group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its Refinery complex,” the company said in a statement.
“The company clarified that all local market needs are fully secured according to the proactive plans in place, ensuring the continuity of supplies and meeting local demand without impact,” Bapco said.
The company’s refinery was hit last week, while reports early on Monday point to another attack on the Bapco refinery as the Iranian regime under the new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is escalating strikes across the region.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Health said on Monday that 32 Bahraini citizens, including children, have been injured in a hostile Iranian drone attack in Sitra.
The force majeure in all operations of Bahrain’s state energy company follows last week’s announcement of force majeure from QatarEnergy, which cannot ship out about 20% of the world’s LNG daily supply due to the traffic halt at the Strait of Hormuz.
European and Asian natural gas prices soared to levels last seen during the 2022-2023 energy crisis after Qatar announced it is halting LNG production at Ras Laffan, the world’s biggest liquefaction complex, issued force majeure notices to customers, and the Strait of Hormuz remains inaccessible for tanker traffic.
The standstill at the Strait of Hormuz also sent oil prices to the highest since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as fears of major supply risks intensified over the weekend. Oil topped $100 per barrel as Gulf oil producers began shutting in production amid a lack of storage capacity.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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