A $120 million project which seeks to improve air and water quality by reducing air emissions and improving effluent water quality at the refinery  received the go-ahead at the board of directors meeting on July 7, 2004.

Board members approved the expenditure request for the Refinery Gas Desulphurisation Project (RGDP), a key environmental  compliance        project and part of the Strategic Investment   Programme.
Bahrain environmental law requires adequate treatment of fuel gas and waste water streams. In November 2000, Bapco reached an agreement with the Environmental Affairs Directorate and the Ministry of Oil to carry out the necessary investments in order to comply with this legislation.
The crude oil processed in the Refinery contains sulphur, some of which is converted to hydrogen sulphide gas in the various refinery processes. Some sulphur is recovered from this hydrogen sulphide gas in the sulphur recovery plant.
However, some hydrogen sulphide remains in the process fuel gas system. Fuel gas is burnt in refinery process heaters resulting in some sulphurdioxide (SO2) being emitted into the atmosphere. To regulate SO2, emissions the government's environmental standards state that the H2O content in fuel gas must not exceed 600 parts per million.
The refinery uses natural gas, in combination with process fuel gas.
The design basis for the RGDP is that the H2O concentration in the combined natural gas and process fuel gas will be reduced to 150 ppm and will thus be significantly less than the government's requirements of 600 ppm.