- MANAMA: Non-OPEC oil producer Bahrain has boosted its oil production to 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 32,000 bpd after the country started to overhaul its main oilfield, Bahrain's top oil official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza, head of the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), told the Gulf Daily News that this was the first increase since the late 1970s.
Bahrain started to overhaul its main oilfield last year after U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. and the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala Development Co. agreed to invest $15 billion to develop the Bahrain field.
"We are making progress already as is indicated by an 8,000 bpd increase and will make more progress as we go along," Mirza was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
He said Bahrain is targeting output capacity of 100,000 bpd by 2017.
Oil is the main source of income for Bahrain's government, and higher output will help the island kingdom tackle mounting fiscal pressures due to a rising subsidies bill.