Bahrain awarded a contract to Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) to explore for natural gas deposits in the country, the nation’s oil minister said.
Bahrain, the smallest oil and gas producer in the Persian Gulf, wants to develop the resources at depths between 15,000 and 20,000 feet as the country’s plan to increase its gas production capacity to meet growth in local demand, Abdul Hussain Mirza said yesterday in an interview in Kuwait at a meeting of the International Energy Forum. Oxy, as the company is known, has already started exploration works, Mirza said.
Oxy will drill three exploration wells during the first four years of the seven-year contract at their own expense, the minister said. If gas is found then the two parties will devise a “formula for sharing the project,” he said.
Bahrain will award a tender to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal by the end of this year as it plans to import 400 million cubic feet of natural gas, Mirza said yesterday. He didn’t specify a timeframe for the imports.
