DUBAI (Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world's largest oil company by production, has resumed full operations of the AB-1 pipeline transporting crude oil from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain after it was closed for unscheduled maintenance works, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
"The maintenance has been completed. The AB-1 pipeline is operating at full capacity," the Aramco spokesman said in an e-mail Dow Jones Newswires.
Flow through the AB-1 line was reduced as a precautionary measure during the required maintenance works, an Aramco spokesman told Dow Jones in early February.
The line transports about 230,000 barrels a day of crude from Saudi Arabia to the only refinery on the island state of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
The 276,000 b/d refinery is operated by Bahrain Petroleum Co., or Bapco, and produces diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, naphtha and gasoline.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are also in negotiations about building a new pipeline with throughput capacity of 350,000 b/d, which would take a different route and avoid crowded areas on the island kingdom. The project has yet to receive final approval.
The Bapco refinery is currently undergoing a $1 billion upgrade program.
Source: Oliver Klaus, Dow Jones Newswires, Powered By E-signal