Bahrain will select international partners in December 2019 for the production phase of a large oil and gas discovery off its west coast (OGJ Online, Apr. 4, 2018).
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, deputy supreme commander and first deputy prime minister, sketched a timetable for development of the discovery at a June 3 meeting of the Higher Committee for Natural Resources and Economic Security.
According to the official Bahrain News Agency, Salman “stressed the importance of optimizing international investment opportunities within the kingdom’s energy sector.”
And he directed that “a number of wells” be drilled as part of a “research and evaluation phase” starting next October and ending in June 2019. The work will include geological surveys.
In an Apr. 4 announcement of the shallow-water discovery, the National Oil and Gas Authority said Halliburton would drill two wells this year. It said Schlumberger handled initial test-well drilling.
Early estimates put oil in place at 80 billion bbl in a reservoir described as partly unconventional. NOGA also said separate discoveries in the region might hold deep gas resources 10-20 tcf.