Bahrain's oil minister said on Monday he expected bids for the engineering, procurement and construction work for the state-run Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) refinery expansion project to be received by the end of this year.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Khalifa told an industry conference that the preliminary work had already been completed for the Sitra expansion.

A new oil pipeline between Saudi arabia and Bahrain will be commissioned in 2018 which will help feed the expansion of the Sitra refinery, al-Khalifa said.

The minister also said he saw 2016 as the "balancing year" for oil markets. – Reuters