Bahrain’s National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) has created a joint operating company with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company and the US’ Occidental Petroleum to develop the Bahrain Oil Field, south of Manama.

The new company, Tatweer Petroleum, will begin development of the field immediately, with staff from Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Mubadala and Occidental.

Bahrain’s Oil & Gas Affairs Minister Abdul Hussain Mirza told MEED on 30 October that over a 20-year period, oil production could triple to 100,000 barrels a day (b/d) at the Bahrain field (MEED 30:10:09).

Rising domestic demand has put pressure on the ministry to increase oil production. Noga estimates that domestic demand for oil will increase by at least 3 per cent a year, to 45,000 b/d by 2011.

In October, Bapco appointed Faisal Mohamed al-Mahroos as chief executive officer following the retirement of Abdulkarim al-Sayed (MEED 29:10:09).