The oil and gas affairs minister for Bahrain has said that the kingdom is planning to invest US$20 billion in the development of its hydrocarbons sector.
Bahraini newspaper the Gulf Daily News reported that Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said $15 billion would be spent developing the Bahrain oil field with another $5 billion being used to modernize the Bapco refinery.
“We have started in earnest the modernisation process in Bahrain over the last few years after Noga came into existence in 2005,” Dr Mirza is reported as saying.
“The process is now well and truly under way with offshore drilling for oil set to begin by the oil giant Occidental, in the very near future,” he added.
Bahrain has been planning to increase its oil production for some time. Last month it was reported that US oil company Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) has signed an agreement with Mubadala Development Company, the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, to develop the Bahrain oil field.
It is estimated that the deal will double the current oil production of the Gulf microstate to around 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) within five years, reaching a peak of around 105,000 bpd after that.
Under the plan gas production will also increase to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfpd) from the current level of 1.7 billion cfpd.
