Bahrain is to drill eight gas wells at a cost of $200 million to meet additional gas demand in the country.

Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas) general manager Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said the wells, to meet additional demands over the next five years until 2014, will add 500 million cubic feet per day of gas to Bahrain's production, from the present 250m cubic feet.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day Gulf Petrochemical and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Supply Chain Conference at the Gulf Hotel, Shaikh Mohammed said Bahrain currently consumes 33.98m cubic metres of gas per day.

'Gas energy is not only utilised in power generation and in industrial sectors but also used extensively for gas injection to maintain oil production from the Bahrain Field,' he said, speaking on behalf of Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza.

'Since Bahrain's gas production is not enough to meet the growing energy demand, Noga has pursued a number of initiatives, some immediate and others medium to long term, to increase availability of energy to fuel the country's growing needs.'

The event, organised by the GPCA, is being held under the patronage of the minister, who deputed Shaikh Mohammed to open it on his behalf.

'Our second initiative was to develop a transparent system to allocate new natural gas supplies for industrial development and also set up a fair and sustainable pricing policy to supply gas and other petroleum products to our consumers,' he said.

Shaikh Mohammed said Bahrain is also looking to find alternative supplies of natural gas to ensure sustainability over the next 40 years.

'We have taken a strategic decision in this regard to negotiate with neighbouring countries to study the potential of importing gas from them and dedicated teams have been formed to pursue this goal.'

He said another major step in this direction has been the signing and allocation of four offshore exploration blocks to internationally acclaimed oil exploration companies.

'We are also looking into the possibility of importing liquid natural gas equivalent to 1,000m standard cubic feet per day, this being the quantity we foresee as the requirement of Bahrain, in addition to the 2,000m cubic feet we currently produce.'

He said Noga is also considering two exploration bids for an onshore deep gas exploration project, which will find Bahrain drilling deeper than ever before up to 6,096 metres.

'The exploration is expected to take place at more than six previously unexplored gas bearing zones.'

He said the project poses some challenges, both in terms of cost and technology required, but Noga was going ahead with it as it wanted to explore all its options.

Shaikh Mohammed said the petrochemical industry is the Gulf's second biggest export commodity with more than 25m tonnes annually.

'The total value of this industry in the Gulf fetches over $50bn annually, comprising nearly 11pc of the global market and utilising massive channels to export to the rest of the world.'

Nearly 200 key decision makers and stakeholders in the global chemical and petrochemical communities are attending the conference.-TradeArabia News Service