CAPITAL: Manama
MONETARY UNIT: Dinar
REFINING CAPACITY: 248,900 b/d
OIL PRODUCTION: 38,764 b/d
OIL RESERVES: 160 million bbl
GAS RESERVES: 4.18 tcf
Bahrain`s Ministry of Oil & Industry awarded a production sharing contract in February 1998 to Chevron Corp. covering three offshore exploration blocks.
Blocks 1, 2, and 3 had a combined area of 5,900 sq km and were believed to hold a number of promising oil prospects. Block 1 lay to the north of the island and Blocks 2 and 3 to the west.
Chevron was outright interest holder in the blocks and began in 1998 to acquire 2D and 3D seismic data with a view to exploration drilling beginning in 2000.
In downstream activity, Petroma Refining & Marketing Co. of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, secured approval in April to build a 500,000 b/d throughput capacity refinery in Bahrain at an estimated cost of $5 billion. Bahrain had one refinery, with capacity to process 260,000 b/d of crude oil.
The new plant was to be a joint venture named Bahrain Refinery Co. (Barco), in which the Hutchinson Group of the U.S. was to have a stake. The plant was to be built on a 12 sq km site in Bahrain`s industrial zone, with construction slated to begin in mid-1999 for completion in 2002.
