Bahrain Considering Establishing Natural Gas Export Facility

Bahrain plans to build solar farms to supply energy to its homes and industries to replace the gas currently used, according to Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Oil and Gas Holding Company. In an interview with "Reuters," Khalifa stated that there are ambitious plans to add solar energy as a power source to Bahrain’s grid instead of merely wasting gas. Some solar farms will be established in neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This initiative comes at a time when Europe is seeking new fuel supplies, and major gas discoveries in the Mediterranean have led to proposals for new underwater pipelines to transport LNG and gas to Europe. According to data from the Oil and Gas Holding Company, Bahrain produces about two billion cubic feet of gas daily, which is used for electricity generation and supplying the refinery and industries with energy, and the country also produces around 190,000 barrels of oil per day from onshore and offshore fields. In 2018, the kingdom discovered the Bahrain Bay Field, its largest oil and gas discovery since 1932, containing an estimated 80 billion barrels of shale oil at least. Bahrain aims to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2035 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, with a new plan for transitioning to renewable energy sources set to be released in the coming months.