The chief executive of Italy-based energy company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, has met with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, prime minister of Bahrain, and discussed potential opportunities to cooperate on the development of oil and gas assets.

Eni said in a statement issued after the meeting: “Eni is also evaluating onshore and offshore opportunities in the upstream sector together with Tatweer Petroleum.”

It added: “Eni and Nogaholding further discussed potential joint cooperation initiatives, including solutions for upstream production optimisation in deep gas structures, bio-refinery and bio-feed upstream."

Tatweer Petroleum is the wholly-owned upstream arm of Bahrain's state energy enterprise Nogaholding.

It is the sole operator of the onshore Bahrain field, also known as the Awali field – the first oil field to be discovered in the Gulf region in 1932.

Eni said it discussed the ongoing cooperation with entities in Bahrain “in the frame of a sustainable development framework”.

It said it aims to complement oil and gas with renewables and other decarbonisation initiatives, with a focus on developing a carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) project in partnership with Nogaholding.

It added: “Such an initiative is fully in line with Eni and the kingdom’s respective common target to reach zero carbon emissions.”

Eni has recently announced several major gas deals with nations in the Middle East and North Africa as Italy looks to cut its reliance on Russian gas imports amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa recently named Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Dainah as the country’s new oil and environment minister as part of a major cabinet reshuffle.

The former envoy for climate affairs replaces Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, according to a report by the state news agency BNA.

Sheikh Mohammed had been oil minister since 2016. During his tenure, Bahrain awarded major engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the upgrade of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) refinery at Sitra and announced the discovery of the Khaleej al-Bahrain oil field.