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Middle East takes control of oil supply chain
The region, known for its crude output, has gone from product importer to exporter, easing supply worries in Europe and creating a supply glut in Asia and elsewhere
US shale closes the gap
Supply is gradually returning, but the market will remain tight into next year
Letter from the Middle East: Gas businesses see swift evolution
Self-sufficiency targets and opportunities to shift to renewables are driving big upsurge in gas production
Letter from the Middle East: Qatar rapprochement could bring gas benefits
Greater GCC harmony might offer an opportunity to untangle some of the Middle East’s notoriously illogical gas dynamics, but LNG looks more promising than pipelines
Letter from the Middle East: The counter-cyclical unconventional renaissance
While US shale firms batten down the hatches or seek M&A solutions to their problems, Mid-East Gulf unconventionals are enjoying a revival
Letter from the Middle East: Selling off the family silver
Auctioning minority stakes in NOCs’ assets may fill short-term budget holes, but they are no guarantee of long-term change
Piling the pressure on US LTO
The country’s production may struggle to return even to its pre-pandemic levels, while growing to new heights seems a distant prospect
Letter from the Middle East: NOCs juggle priorities
From boosting oil production to throttling it back and with challenging oil and gas dynamics in both the short and longer-term, the region’s producers have their hands full
Bahrain mulls asset sale as cash crunch bites
Manama may seek to sell non-producing assets in order to mitigate the severe shock of falling oil prices, experts say
Bahrain’s gas plans remain in flux
Completion of an import terminal has not ended the kingdom's gas dilemmas
Tight oil Tight gas Bahrain
James Gavin
19 September 2018
Follow @PetroleumEcon
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Tight could prove right for Bahrain

The recent discovery of offshore shale oil and gas deposits could be a welcome energy boost for Bahrain—or remain tantalisingly beyond reach

The small kingdom has the distinction of being the first Gulf state to make an oil discovery—back in 1932. The intervening period has been less exciting in oil terms, only able to pump just below 50,000 barrels a day of its own oil. Most of its 150,000-b/d output is effectively gifted by Saudi Arabia from the Abu Safah field and refined on the island. Lacking the hydrocarbon heft of its larger Gulf neighbours, the authorities have spent recent months publicly touting the "epoch-making" nature of its shale oil discovery, first announced in early April. Confidence levels seem high. Bahrain has just launched commemorative postage stamp to mark the occasion of the discovery, which could contain

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