Bahrain to Link with Occidental to Lift Oil & Gas Output

The kingdom of Bahrain said, on 8 october 2009, it will set up a company to increase oil and gas production in collaboration with US firm Occidental Petroleum Corp and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co. "This aims at increasing the kingdom's production of oil and gas to provide for future needs," Oil Minister Abdul-Hussein Mirza was cited as saying. The agency did not give further details. Bahrain, a tiny archipelago of 35 islands, produces 37,000 bpd, the least among its Persian Gulf neighbours in the world's top oil exporting region. It signed a memorandum of understanding in the oil and gas sector with Russia's monopoly Gazprom in November 2008. It has also held talks with neighbour Iran over gas imports. Bahrain shares with Saudi Arabia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, the offshore Abu Saafa field that produces 150,000 bpd. - Zawya