The UAE's Abu Dhabi emirate said the investment would be conducted over
the next two years in an effort to raise crude oil capacity by 30 percent.
Officials said the emirate's goal was to produce 3.5 million barrels per
day.
"Revenues from oil and gas and [oil] products constitute 35 percent of
Abu Dhabi's gross domestic product, 80 percent of the government's revenues
and 90 percent of the total exports," the Abu Dhabi Economic and Social
Report 2008 said.
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Abu Dhabi has been producing 2.7 million barrels of oil per day, or 94
percent of total UAE output, Middle East Newsline reported. The UAE has proven oil reserves of 97.8 billion
barrels.
Meanwhile, Bahrain plans to construct at least one terminal to
process liquefied natural gas.
Officials said Bahrain's Energy Ministry has conducted two studies on
the feasibility of an LNG terminal. They said two U.S. companies — Hess and
Shell — have deemed the project feasible.
"Qatar, Russia and Egypt, among others could be the source of the gas,
transported in the liquid form and then turned into gas again to power
Bahrain's industries and infrastructure," Bahraini Energy Minister Abdul
Hussein Mirza said.
Mirza said the facility would have the capacity to process hundreds of
thousands of tons of LNG. Bahrain plans to increase its current gas
production from the current 1.3 billion cubic feet per day to 2.7 billion
feet by 2014.