Background
Bahrain’s Higher Committee for Natural Resources and Economic Security, chaired by Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, had announced 1 April 2018 that there had been a “highly significant” offshore discovery of tight oil and deep gas in the Khaleej Al Bahrain Basin, which extends off the west and south-west coast.
The exact location has so far not been revealed; however in 2016 operating company BAPCO let a turnkey contract to Schlumberger for drilling and testing 2 exploratory wells, and was operating the “Key Hawaii” jack up in the extreme south of the Bahraini sector in the period from mid-March to mid-October 2017 when it moved off location. The rig was subsequently operating to the east of Bahrain, close to the Qatar border.
The exact location has so far not been revealed; however in 2016 operating company BAPCO let a turnkey contract to Schlumberger for drilling and testing 2 exploratory wells, and was operating the “Key Hawaii” jack up in the extreme south of the Bahraini sector in the period from mid-March to mid-October 2017 when it moved off location. The rig was subsequently operating to the east of Bahrain, close to the Qatar border.
Brief Introduction
The Minister said that two appraisal wells had been agreed for 2018, which will be operated by Halliburton. No mention has been made of blanket 3D seismic coverage. However, an optimistic production start date of 2022-2023 has been touted. The Minister added that one could expect the resources to support oil production of 200,000 b/d and gas of 1 Bcf/d.
Expected workload
Bahrain will invite international oil companies in December 2019 to help it develop its first major discovery in decades, hoping to begin production within five years.
Bahrain has invited Chinese companies to invest in the country's oil assets, including a newly discovered oil field that reportedly contains up to 80 billion barrels of tight (or shale) oil, Bahrain's oil minister said.
"We have had talks with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). I met the chairman a couple of weeks ago in India. We had a good discussion, and [after that] he sent a technical team to see what's available. We look forward to taking that [cooperation] further," Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the oil minister said.
Bahrain is also talking with Sinopec, another major oil and gas producer in China. "But most of the discussions so far have been with CNPC... We are very positive about the opportunity to do business with CNPC in Bahrain," he said.
Neither CNPC nor Sinopec commented as of press time.
"We are drilling two wells in 2019. We are talking with companies like CNPC to see what level of interest they have and to invite them to produce the oil with us," the oil minister said.
Expected workload
Bahrain will invite international oil companies in December 2019 to help it develop its first major discovery in decades, hoping to begin production within five years.
Company behavior
In October 2018, Halliburton began deploying two evaluation wells in the region.