Despite the uncertainties posed by the global economic crisis, Bahrain is going ahead full-steam with its offshore projects, the kingdom’s Oil and Gas Affairs Minister has said.

As part of the strategy, the kingdom’s Oil Ministry has established a joint venture operating company with US major Occidental and the UAE's Mubadala Development Co to drill 3,600 new oil wells over the next 20 years for the Bahrain Oil Field development project, Dr Abdul-Hussain Bin Ali Mirza, who is also the chairman of the National Oil and Gas Authority.

Dr Mirza was giving his keynote address at the second Offshore Middle East Conference and Exhibition.

Under the terms of the April agreement, Occidental will hold a 48 per cent interest in the joint venture company, Mubadala 32 per cent and a subsidiary of Noga the remaining 20 per cent. The first well would be drilled early next year.

Also, Bahrain has targeted more than doubling output from the Bahrain oilfield from 33,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 75,000 bpd within five years and to a peak of 100,000 bpd thereafter.

Gas production from the field is expected to grow to over 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from the current levels of 1.7 bcfd, he said.

In recent years, the kingdom has stepped up drilling and exploration efforts to try to raise indigenous oil and gas production and has also introduced enhanced recovery techniques to boost its production of heavy oil, he said.

Bahrain's investment in its oil and gas sector did not stop even during the darkest days of the economic slowdown, said Dr Mirza.

He said Bahrain had averted any funding crisis by anticipating the massive slump in oil prices.
He said Bapco was also looking at the refinery configuration beyond 2015, to improve its profitability and competitiveness.

Dr Mirza added Bahrain was considering the possibility of increasing refinery crude capacity from 265,000 barrels per day to 400,000 barrels per day.

Bapco has successfully completed the drilling of three gas wells as part of a major $100 million programme to boost natural gas production in Bahrain by an additional 500 million cubic feet per day, he said. – TradeArabia News Service