THE year 2014 scored a tremendous success for the National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga), the regulating authority responsible for Bahrain’s oil and gas affairs in Bahrain, as it organised, supported and participated in numerous oil events, drawing energy experts and professionals from the region and world over to Bahrain.

Energy Minister Dr Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza attended a number of international oil and gas meetings, conferences and exhibitions upholding Bahrain’s interest and projecting the country as an important player in the petroleum business.

Prior to Dr Mirza taking over as the minister of energy in December 2014, Finance Minister Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, who was in charge of oil and gas affairs of Bahrain, also supported a number of energy conferences, exhibitions and events that stirred technological and professional excellence for the oil industry in the region.

Meets Chinese delegation: As part of strengthening bilateral relations, Dr Mirza met a delegation of senior officials from companies and organisations working in the field of oil, gas and petrochemicals in the People’s Republic of China, where they discussed oil investment prospects between the Kingdom of Bahrain and China.

The visit followed an earlier Bahraini oil sector delegation call to China at the end of 2014, during which members from oil, gas and petrochemical industries had met senior officials of China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) and representatives from major oil companies in China under the Sino-Bahraini Joint Committee for Oil and Gas established under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries during the visit of His Majesty the King of Bahrain to Beijing in September 2014.

Opens ninth gas compressor station: During the year, the ninth gas compressor station, a $42 million CS9 at the Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas) was opened. Built at a cost of $42.4 million by Japan’s JGC Gulf International, the project can accommodate 60 million cubic feet (mcf) of associated gas generated from the refinery operations.

Gains IGU membership: Bahrain got the International Gas Union (IGU) membership during the annual IGU meeting in Berlin, Germany held from October 14 to 17.

The Noga ... Ali Abdul Jabar Al Sawad, general manager of strategies and planning; Dr Ahmed Ali Al Sharyan, general secretary; and Jassim Shirawi, general manager of oil and gas affairs

The membership will open up new EU business avenues for Bahraini gas and expand the scope of international relations for Noga with the global gas industry, and promote Bahrain as a strategic partner in the region for IGU events organised in the region.

Noga Private Cloud: Noga recently tied up with Microsoft to introduce a Noga Private Cloud, moving the organisation towards centralised data storage, and online access to shared resources. It is part of the Noga Strategic Plan to upgrade its infrastructure to support information technology and associated technical capabilities.

Signs up with World Bank: Another important development was the Energy Efficiency Implementation Programme signed between the Government of Bahrain and the World Bank, whereby World Bank would provide technical and advisory support to Bahrain in curbing energy demand over the next three years.

The programme will set incentives and targets, identify priority interventions, raise awareness, support implementation efforts, and assist in performance monitoring.

An implementation strategy will be developed along with an institutional energy efficiency model that fits Bahrain’s needs and conditions, which will include awareness campaigns for consumers and retailers about energy efficiency labeling on appliances.

It will also support installation of smart meters to optimise energy use by public buildings and large commercial and industrial consumers and redirect investments to energy efficient technologies in support of Bahrain’s Vision 2030.

Energy Conservation project: Another interesting development was the trial five-year project to cut power consumption by 40 per cent, inside the Ministry of Finance building, to be later applied in other government buildings. The Ministry replaced all fluorescent lamps with LED lamps and installed thermal systems to reduce heat transfer into the building.