Bahrain long ago slipped down the league table of regional oil heavyweights. Stated output of around 200,000 b/d is only achieved thanks to the addition of more than 150,000 b/d from a Saudi Aramco-operated field. Yet just four years since the last foreign players – US firm Oxy and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala – departed the kingdom’s upstream (MEES, 10 June 2016), there is an undeniable sense of momentum.

“For now, my main focus is on the upstream,” Bahrain’s Oil Minister Sheikh Muhammad Al Khalifa said towards the end of a comprehensive update of the kingdom’s oil and gas sector to the American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain earlier this month. (CONTINUED - 1588 WORDS)