February 10, 2024

The United States is set to invest public money in expanding oil and gas production in Bahrain despite the Biden administration’s pledges to end support for fossil fuel projects abroad, according to Bloomberg.
The US Export-Import Bank - a federal export credit agency - is moving forward with its plans to support the drilling of more than 450 new oil and gas wells in one of the oldest fields in the Middle East.

The bank's board of directors voted on Thursday to notify the US Congress about the potential investment, a step required for projects worth more than $100 million. Bahraini financing is expected to be secured early next month.

The funding will be allocated to a $4.2 billion program to boost production in a nine-decade-old field. Bapco Exploration and Production Company (formerly Bahrain Development Company) plans to drill up to 34 new gas wells and more than 420 wells new oil production, in addition to establishing processing facilities and transportation networks. The program is expected to free up reserves containing 5.2 trillion cubic feet of gas - nearly six times the amount of gas the Kingdom currently produces each year, and oil production is also expected to see a slight increase.

These investments are expected to double direct emissions from the Bahraini field, releasing more than 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere by 2026 That is nearly double the emissions recorded in 2022, according to the environmental assessment report submitted by Bapco Exploration and Production Company. This does not include emissions from end-consumers burning fuels (known as Scope 3), which generally account for up to 90% of fossil fuel companies' carbon footprint.

The American company SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger) will participate in the project, as it previously participated in the discovery of new oil and gas reserves in central Bahrain. In March 2021, it won a contract worth $225 million to develop these fields.