Bahrain and Qatar will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which Qatar will supply 500 million to 800m cubic feet of gas per day to Bahrain, reported the Gulf Daily News.
A date for the signing has yet to be set, but the paper said that two countries will sign Tuesday a separate protocol which provides for the establishment of a joint technical committee, which will explore opportunities for cooperation in oil and gas.
The two new initiatives lay a strong foundation for further co-operation in the oil and gas industries between the two countries, Bahrain’s Oil Minister Sheikh Issa bin Ali Al Khalifa said.
He was speaking following a meeting with Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Abdulla bin Hamad Al Attiyah.
The two-day meeting, which concludes Tuesday in Manama, was also aimed at discussing oil and gas cooperation "in general" between the two sides, said Attiyah.
"We have agreed to create a technical team which will be tasked with determining opportunities of co-operation between us," he said.
The team would comprise representatives of Bahrain’s petroleum company, Bapco, and Qatar Petroleum.
"We have also discussed the supply of Qatari gas to Bahrain," said Attiyah.
He said Bahrain was seeking about 500m to 800m cubic feet per day.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU), providing for the gas supply, is to be signed between Bahrain, Qatar and international oil giant Exxon-Mobil, the developers of the project to supply gas to Bahrain and Kuwait, said Attiyah.
A similar MoU has already been signed between Qatar and Kuwait, under which Qatar is to supply 750m to one billion cubic feet of gas per day to Kuwait, he said.
Shaikh Issa said Qatari gas would be used for Bahrain's power generation and manufacturing industry.
However, a technical study is to be conducted into the viability and cost of the gas supply project, he said.
The Bahrain-Qatar gas project is part of a GCC project to establish GCC-wide power and gas links, said Shaikh Issa.
"A few years back, GCC Ministers for Power and Industry agreed on the establishment of a link between the GCC states in power and gas," he said.
While the power link target has since been advanced, the gas link study had not been finalized.
However, individual countries were going ahead with establishing links with one another and the Bahrain-Qatar and Qatar-Kuwait gas link was part of that effort, said Shaikh Issa.
He said the current talks with Qatar provide an opportunity for a strong foundation for further co-operation between Bahrain and Qatar in the oil and gas field – Albawaba.com
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