Business & Finance Club Magazine - Oil & Gas Sector - MANAMA: A key conference spotlighting company leadership in the new decade opened yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza patronised the opening.

He addressed the event, outlining the history of 'black gold' since the discovery of the first oil well in the Arabian Gulf, 78 years ago. He highlighted the challenges facing Bahrain due to the decline in oil production.

"Noga has established a joint operation company with Occidental and UAE Mubadala to dig 3,600 wells over the next 10 years as part of plans to develop Bahrain Oil Field," he said.

The partnership will hopefully bring the output to 75,000 barrels per day in five years, up from 33,000.

He also expressed hope that production from Bahrain Oil Field would peak to 100,000 barrels per day.

Under the development plans, Bahrain also hopes to boost its production from the field to more than 2.5 billion cubic metre per day, up from the current 1.3bn per day.

Dr Mirza also outlined plans designed to completely modernise diesel production at the refinery and bring its diesel products into full compliance with strict new emission regulations.

He cited the $700 million low-sulphur diesel which was operated in 2007.