— Reuters pic MANAMA (Bahrain), April 4 — Bahrain today announced its newly discovered shale oil reserve was estimated to contain more than 80 billion barrels, making the once-marginal oil producer potentially a major player in the market. The huge discovery in west Bahrain, named Khalij Al-Bahrain Basin, is estimated to hold more than 80 billion barrels of oil, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa said at a press conference today. Bahrain has approximately 124.6 million barrels of proven reserves, and currently gets it oil revenues from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared jointly with Saudi Arabia. The tiny Sunni-ruled kingdom currently produces some 50,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Bahrain Field, discovered in 1932. The Bahrain field, produced around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia split annual revenues from the 300,000 bpd Abu Safah offshore field where production is overseen by Saudi Aramco. Independent appraisals by U.S.-based oil consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton and oilfield services company Halliburton had confirmed Bahrain’s find of “highly significant quantities of oil in place for the Khalij Al Bahrain, with tight oil amounting to at least 80 billion barrels, and deep gas reserves in the region of 10-20 trillion cubic feet,” Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said.
Bahrain says a recently-discovered offshore oilfield in its territorial waters contains 80 billion barrels of petroleum.