A major deal, allowing the country to have the required technology to tap into the remaining four million barrels of oil from its Bahrain Field could be signed soon.

It will be signed between Bahrain government and a consortium of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

A bill on the agreement was yesterday passed by the Shura Council without any discussion.

Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza has already signed the interim operating agreement and the framework agreement for the Bahrain Field Phased Development Project with Oxy chairman and chief-executive officer Dr Ray Irani and Mubadala board member Ahmed Al Sayegh, in March.

Parliament has already approved the agreement two weeks ago, also without any discussion, to help speed up work on the final Development Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA), which was expected to be signed last month.

It will be now ratified by His Majesty King Hamad, before the DPSA is signed.

Dr Mirza told councillors at yesterday's session that only a sixth of reserve oil in the Bahrain Field has been excavated, because the government didn't have ne required technologies.

Dr Mirza told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News in March that the co-operation between Oxy, Mubadala and Noga will result in increasing the daily oil and gas production levels.

The bidding and negotiation phases with all the oil companies were carried out in complete adherence to Bahrain Tender Law and through maintaining a very transparent process, said Dr Mirza.

The negotiation phase of the project started in December last year, following the approval of the Tender Board to select Oxy and Mubadala as the preferred bidder among the three shortlisted companies.-TradeArabia News Service