Eighty-billion barrels of crude oil were recently discovered in Bahrain, a small island nation in the Middle East, according to Bloomberg Markets.
Bahrain is the oldest and smallest oil producer in the Persian Gulf, but this discovery could one day supply “200,000 barrels a day,” compared to 49,000 a day last year, which could make a significant dent in the country’s deficit, Bloomberg reports.
This 80-billion barrel finding will rank Bahrain as the third-largest oil-producing country in the Middle East behind Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the seventh-biggest oil producer in the world.
Due to high production and development costs, and the uncertainty of how much of the 80-billion barrels is recoverable, Bahrain is asking larger oil companies for help in the process. Shallow waters will also help reduce costs.
Bahrain officials say five years is the expected amount of time the country will need to have production in full swing.