Bahrain this week announced a major reform to its oil and gas sector. A new law will enable foreign firms “to own 100% of the oil and gas drilling activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain, providing that the Parent Company have signed or in the process of sealing an agreement on the exploration and production of oil and natural gas with the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Eni signed an EPSA with Bahrain to develop the offshore Block 1 in May, becoming the first foreign firm to enter the country’s upstream since Oxy and Mubadala withdrew in 2016 (MEES, 3 May). Meanwhile Chevron and Total have signed a letter of intent (LoI) and memorandum of understanding (MoU) respectively for work that covers the highly prospective Khalij Al-Bahrain’s unconventional asset. (CONTINUED - 161 WORDS)