Eric Watkins
Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 -- Bahrain has launched a bidding round for exploration of its onshore natural gas fields, said oil minister Abdul-Hussain Ali Mirza, who also is chairman of the country's national oil and gas authority.
Mirza said 25 international companies expressed interest in bidding and that the open bidding process will end in second quarter 2009.
Bahrain, through development of gas fields as deep as 6,096 m subsea, aims to meet rising domestic demand.
In 2007, according to Mirza, Bahrain consumed 1.3 billion cu m of gas and its consumption is expected to rise to more than 2 billion cu m in the long term.
Contact Eric Watkins at hippalus@yahoo.com.
