Bahrain had oil reserves of 632.5 million barrels at the end of last year, said a senior government official.

A total of 618.44 million barrels were available at the Bahrain Field after 17.5 million barrels were produced last year, added Energy Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

In addition there were 10.65 trillion cu m of gas available, with 530 billion cu m produced last year.

"The oil reserves are much higher than the numbers we are presenting, but that's the actual figure using current technologies," Dr Mirza said in a response to parliament on available oil and gas reserves.

"With future advancements, we are expecting the figures to rise further. The oil price also affects reserves and if prices go below $40 a barrel then non-conventional oil production will not be commercially viable.

"Tatweer Petroleum has invested $3.43 billion since its establishment in 2009 to drill more wells, while enhancing production facilities and infrastructure at the Bahrain Field.

"For the past five years, only 70 million barrels has been managed by Tatweer and that's below the target agreed in the contract signed with the government due to the complicated nature of the field, but there are 13 ongoing experiments to improve production."

He said Tatweer has helped increase daily crude production from 27,000 to 45,000 barrels daily, finding 800 wells over its five years of operation, while increasing gas output by 50 per cent.

"We have 38,300 barrels a day in the main production line, of which the government has 79 per cent of revenues. There is an additional line with 10,200 barrels a day with 40 per cent going towards covering the costs of Tatweer's operations, which is fixed," said Dr Mirza.

"The remaining 6,120 barrels gets divided between contracted companies (33 per cent) and the National Oil and Gas Authority."

Meanwhile, Dr Mirza said 617 million gallons of water would be available in reserve by the end of next year in response to a question on water consumption.

"The reserves will be enough for a three-day supply if we take the average individual use of 120 gallons per day," he said.

"In actuality it is 75 gallons without lost water being added, with losses calculated at 14 per cent of consumed water - which we are working to reduce." – TradeArabia News Service