Bahrain is planning to develop new oil reserves in its Khalij Al Bahrain basin and will soon host a virtual roadshow to attract foreign companies, according to reports in the media.
Bahrain will invite foreign oil companies to work with Bahrain-based firms and to explore the new 2000 square kilometre oil and deep gas resources in the Khalij Al Bahrain basin.
Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told the media, “As we entered 2020 the prices were in the $65 range and nobody had an idea of this pandemic. We saw a sharp drop in demand and I think April was one of the worst periods in the oil industry, as we lost 25m barrels of demand. And for the first time, we saw negative pricing on West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude, which nobody really expected.”
“The good news is that the surplus supply of 25 million barrels is now closer to 6 million, which indicates demand is picking up. However, we have to wait until June to see any real improvements. Our projects continue to be going ahead, of course, there are austerity measures which are critical as the entire region is doing it.”
He further revealed that all the equipment are ready for drilling the first exploration well in Block 1. However, when the work will commence, it is yet unknown.
Bahrain announced the discoveries of the Pre-Unayzah and Khalij Al Bahrain fields in April 2018. According to the oil ministry, the Khalij Al Bahrain basin has 80 million barrels of shale oil and it will look to produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day.