A major agreement has been signed between Bahrain and the US Occidental Petroleum Corporation for deep gas exploration, according to Energy Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza.

Occidental will carry out drilling for gas and Bahrain would not be charged for the operations since all drilling costs would be borne by the company for the first seven years. By then it would be known whether they have found results, Dr Mirza said.

The ministry is now in the process of changing the path of oil pipelines in the southern part of the kingdom, he said, adding initial drawing plans will be put out to tender early next year.

With regard to liquefied natural gas Project 9, specialised companies have submitted offers and the winning bidder will be announced once evaluation has been completed, he added.-TradeArabia News Service