Bahrain on Wednesday (April 4th) announced its newly discovered shale oil reserve was estimated to contain more than 80 billion barrels, making the once-marginal oil producer potentially a major player in the market, AFP reported.
The amount of recoverable oil -- or oil that can be extracted -- is still under study, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa told a press conference in Manama.
The field covers 2,000 square kilometres in shallow waters off the kingdom's west coast.
Pumping of oil from the field is not expected for at least five years, said Yahya al-Ansari, exploration manager at Bahrain's national oil company Bapco.
International consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton, Halliburton and Schlumberger are heading the project with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority.
Bahrain was the first Gulf state to discover crude but is today the smallest producer among the six oil-rich states of the Gulf.
Bahrain, which is not a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is nonetheless part of an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut oil production in the wake of the 2014 market crash.
