Bahrain discovers largest oil and gas field

DUBAI, Apr 02 (AFP): Bahrain on Sunday announced it has discovered the largest oil and gas field in the history of the small kingdom, which unlike its Gulf neighbours is not energy-rich.

"The new resource is forecast to contain highly significant quantities of tight (light crude) oil and deep gas, dwarfing Bahrain's current reserves," said the country's Higher Committee for Natural Resources, which is chaired by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad.

The find in the Khaleej al-Bahrain, off the west coast, was "the largest discovery of oil in the country's history", it said in a statement.

Prince Salman tweeted that a press conference on Wednesday would "provide additional details on the discovery, including initial findings of size and extraction viability".

Manama is the smallest producer of hydrocarbons in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which also groups Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bahrain currently has only one oilfield with several hundred million barrels of crude reserves.

The field was the first to be discovered in the Gulf and the first to start production.

It currently pumps around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), in addition to over one billion cubic feet (28 million cubic metres) of natural gas daily.

The kingdom, which raises around 80 per cent of its revenues from oil, receives another 150,000 bpd from the Abu Safa oilfield which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Chinese oil and gas enterprises show great interest in investing in Algeria at the just-concluded North Africa Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (NAPEC).

As many as 40 Chinese companies took part in this year's event, said Zoe Zuo, general manager of Beijing CEW International Fair as well as director of the China pavilion in NAPEC.

The exhibition conference was held in Oran, 400 km west of Algiers, from March 25 to 28.

The organizer of the event, Yacini Jaafar, told Xinhua:"Our Chinese partner CEW brought 37 Chinese companies. The Chinese presence is the largest after France, and more Chinese companies show great interest in investing in Algeria."

Yacini said "Algeria is an attractive country, and Chinese companies have started to understand how things work here."

In addition, "Chinese firms are competitive in the oil and gas field, and enjoy some experience in Algeria," Yacini added.

Xinmi Wanli Industry Development, a Chinese company specializing in petrochemical products, participated in NAPEC for the first time this year.