Bahrain was prepared for recession says oil chief

Bahrain’s investment in its oil and gas sector did not stop even during the darkest days of the economic slowdown, a top minister has said.

Oil and Gas Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said Bahrain had averted any funding crisis by anticipating the massive slump in oil prices.

“We continued as usual and today those investments are seeing a huge jump,” he said in comments published by Gulf Daily News on Wednesday.

The country had based its annual budget around an oil price of $40 a barrel when it was apparent the credit crunch would lead to a fall in prices and therefore was not caught off guard, he added.

This had resulted in Bahrain continuing to invest and expand the oil and gas sector when much of the world stopped doing so, he told the paper on the sidelines of the First GCC Conference on Investments in Oil & Gas and Petrochemicals.

Mirza said now the economy was looking up even more since oil prices had been hovering at around $70 a barrel, well above the budgeted $40 figure.

“It had gone up to $147 and fell to $40 and below and if we had not taken that into account in our budget, we would have been in a shambles.”

Mirza said in terms of on-shore exploration and development, Bahrain was looking to increase daily oil and gas production and ultimately recoverable reserves from the Bahrain Field reservoirs.

He said Bapco was also looking at the refinery configuration beyond 2015, to improve its profitability and competitiveness.

Mirza added Bahrain was also looking at the possibility of increasing refinery crude capacity from 265,000 barrels per day to 400,000 barrels per day and over.