Bahrain offers entire offshore fields for bidding
By Karen Remo-Listana
Posted: 26 March 2007
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Raising t he possibility of new discoveries and recovering more from the existing fields, Bahrain is offering four blocks for exploration and production sharing agreements.
 Areas on offer encompass the entire offshore territory of approximately 7,400 square kilometres. The blocks are said to have attracted interest from 18 companies but Minister of Oil and Gas Affairs and chairman of the National Oil and Gas Authority Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza declined to not name them.
“The response we have received from these companies is an indication that the possible existence of oil and gas is promising,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Middle East Oil Show in Bahrain .
Bidding for the offshore round will close on 17 September, following a road show that will take officials to London , California , and Texas . The awarding of the contracts is expected to be announced on 31 October.
State-controlled Bapco said it plans to add 700 development wells for the next 15 years, doubling the number of wells currently drilled. Bahrain has also set aside $200 million to increase gas production capacity by 500 million standard cubic feet per day.
Mirza said that to sustain industrial projects; Bahrain is also looking at importing gas from Qatar , Iran and Saudi Arabia .
“We are under negotiations with these countries,” Mirza told Pipeline. “We need to import because we need gas for our strategic reserves. We are surrounded by neighbours who have abundant gas. Iran has the second largest and Qatar has the third largest gas reserves in the world.”
Bahrain is also offering operators its onshore assets in the Awali Field for redevelopment. This comprises heavy oil, reactivation projects for existing oil pools and deep gas developments.
Although it is the first country in the GCC to discover oil in 1932, today it has little oil and gas and exports refined petroleum products rather than crude oil.
The launch of exploration acreage follows a programme of exhaustive review and re-evaluation conducted by Bapco, which has led to better understanding of previous exploration results and redefined future potential.
From 1960 to 2004, 18 unsuccessful wells were drilled in Bahrain . “But this time we are hopeful because new technology gives us more information,” Mirza said. “We have the data that we have gained from previous reading with Chevron and Petronas plus we have re-interpreted all the past data. We are using consultants - Fugro Robertson.”
Asked why Bapco is not investing in the project, he said: “Initially, the oil industry was monopolised by the international oil companies - the Seven Sisters. Then when Opec was born, the producing countries slowly took over and nationalised the oil industry.
“Today, however, it’s time to join forces with the independent oil companies because they bring with them new technologies.” |
