Bahrain's bid to modernise its oil refining processes and recent oil exploration initiatives will come under focus during an international conference beginning today.

The three-day event will be held under the theme 'Improving oil refineries and producing cleaner fuels' at Mšvenpick Hotel, Muharraq.

It is being held by Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries and National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga), in co-operation with Bapco.

The conference will be held under the patronage of Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and Noga chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza.

Dr Mirza said Bahrain attached great importance to specialised oil industry conferences that focus on key themes.

'Bahrain's recent development of its oil industry, including the refining process, is in line with the latest available expertise the world over,' he said.

'There are still a lot of challenges we will face but we will continue to meet them head on.

'We are committed, like anyone else, to producing cleaner and greener fuels and wish to implement technical solutions and economic of Arab countries in the development of refineries that produce these fuels,' Dr Mirza said.

He said Bahrain had taken steps to ensure there was perfect integration between the refineries and the petrochemicals industry and its impact on the production of clean fuels.

This is in addition to the environmental impact of refining industry oil possible solutions, Dr Mirza added.

'The event will contribute to the development of the oil sector in Bahrain and the Arab region and strength links between experts in the region,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service