DUBAI -* Bahrain on Sunday announced it has discovered the largest oil andgas field in the history of the small kingdom, which unlike its Gulfneighbours is not energy-rich.*
Authorities estimate the newfound reserves at “many times” the volume ofBahrain’s only other known oil field, the state-run BNA news agency said.
BNA did not give details on the size of the new light shale oil and gasfind or on the expected date of the start of production.
Manama is the smallest producer of hydrocarbons in the Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC), which also groups Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates.
Bahrain currently has only one oilfield with several hundred millionbarrels of crude reserves.
The field was the first to be discovered in the Gulf and the first to startproduction.
It currently pumps around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), in addition to overone billion cubic feet (28 million cubic metres) of natural gas daily.
The kingdom, which raises around 80 percent of its revenues from oil,receives another 150,000 bpd from the Abu Safa oilfield which it shareswith Saudi Arabia.