Bahrain is discussing development of an offshore oil and gas discovery it disclosed last year with US oil companies, Reuters reports.
Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told the news service, “Maybe towards the end of this year we might be in a position to have an interested company, we hope.”
The focus is on US companies because of their experience with shale and other low-permeability reservoirs, he said.
A Bahrain Petroleum Co. geologist last April said the discovery, in shallow water off western Bahrain, encountered “a layer with moderate conventional reservoir properties on top of an organic-rich source rock (OGJ Online, Apr. 4, 2018).”
Other than a median oil-in-place estimate of 80 billion bbl, little has been disclosed about the discovery.
Al Khalifa said drilling has begun of a test well.
