Bahrain's new oil discovery is estimated at 80 billion barrels

Bahrain was declared the smallest producer among the six oil-rich states of the Gulf. Bahrain is situated among 30 islands in the Arabian Gulf.

In a recent discovery, Bahrain announced that they found shale oil reserve contains an estimate 80 billion barrels, which made the smallest producer a major player in the market.

At a conference in Manama Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa told, the amount of recoverable oil is still under study.  

At the kingdom's west coast, the field covers 2,000 square kilometres in shallow waters which is close to the largest producer of oil Saudi Arabia.

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Yahya al-Ansari, exploration manager at Bahrain's national oil company Bapco, said that pumping of oil from the field is not expected for at least five years.

International consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton, Halliburton, and Schlumberger are heading the project with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority.

Currently, Bahrain produces 50,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bahrain Field, which was discovered in 1932. It also gets another 150,000 barrels per day from the Abu Saafa field, which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Mohammed said, the kingdom has also discovered natural gas estimated at between 10 trillion cubic feet and 20 trillion cubic feet,

Although Bahrain is not a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but it is a part of an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut oil production in the wake of the 2014 market crash.

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