Italy’s Eni has signed a contract with Bahraini companies to study and assess the potential of some exploration and production assets in the country.

Four contracts have been signed between Eni, state oil group Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) and Tatweer Petroleum. The latter was formed in 2009 to revive production at the onshore Bahrain field.

“Eni will have access to the data for the study of the oil and gas field’s potential within the offshore and onshore areas,” the Italian group said.

“At the end of the studies, the Bahraini authorities and Eni will evaluate together the possibility of future initiatives in the kingdom, with the view to cooperate for further developments of the country’s energy resources,” it added.

MEED reported in May that Mubadala Petroleum and US-based Occidental Petroleum agreed to pull out of a joint venture to develop and operate the Bahrain field, the country’s largest onshore oil and gas asset.

The two overseas companies had formed the 20-year joint venture Tatweer Petroleum with Bahrain’s government-controlled Oil and Gas Holding Company (Nogaholding) in 2009, with the aim of increasing the capacity of the Bahrain field.