LONDON: Bahrain has discovered the country’s biggest oilfield in decades, located off the west coast of the country.
The light shale oil and gas resource represents the largest discovery in the country since 1932, the BNA state news agency reported on Sunday. Further details on the find are expected to emerge on Wednesday at a press conference in Manama.
It could have a major impact on the country’s financial position which has come under scrutiny by ratings agencies in recent months.
Bahrain relies on the Abu Safa oilfield, which it shares with Saudi Arabia, for most of its oil.
“The new resource is forecast to contain highly significant quantities of tight oil and deep gas, understood to dwarf Bahrain’s current reserves,” said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who chairs Bahrain’s Higher Committee for Natural Resources and Economic Security.
“Following the initial discovery of the resource, detailed analysis of the find’s content, size and extraction viability has been undertaken.”
Bahrain is working with petroleum industry consultants, DeGolyer and MacNaughton (Demac) to assess the finds.
“Today we announce that initial analysis demonstrates the find is at substantial levels, capable of supporting the long-term extraction of tight oil and deep gas,” the statement said.
Bahrain’s National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) is conducting modeling studies aimed at quantifying the size and value of the find.
A DeGolyer and MacNaughton spokesperson said: “Demac evaluated the reservoir and test data, evaluated volumetric and recovery potential, and provided reports documenting both prospective and contingent resources.
“This is a project which breaks new ground for the industry.”
The discovery, which is expected to support extensive, long-term downstream investment, follows an uptick in oil and gas exploration in the Kingdom.
Last year the government accelerated exploration of sites to the west of Bahrain, which resulted in the discovery of the resource and oil being struck in the fourth quarter of 2017, it said.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Oil is due to reveal more details on the discovery this week, including initial findings of size and extraction viability.
Bahrain has been among the most exposed of the Gulf states to a sustained decline in global oil prices since mid-2014.
Its breakeven oil price, which is the oil price it needs in order to balance its budget, is higher than other Gulf crude exporters.
In November, Fitch Ratings revised Bahrain’s outlook to ‘negative’ from ‘stable,’ citing the challenges the government faced in tackling the deficit.
Moody’s said in September that Bahrain was among the “most exposed” to the ongoing diplomatic row between Doha and some of its Gulf neighbors.
Bahrain: Largest rock oil field discovered in country's history
Bahrain: Largest rock oil field discovered in country's history
Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co.’s Q4 net profit rises 16.4% to $25.63m
RIYADH: Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co. reported a net profit of SR96.2 million ($25.63 million) in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 16.4 percent compared to the previous three months.
For the full year 2025, the company’s net profit stood at SR395.6 million, marking a decline of 36.38 percent compared to 2024, according to a Tadawul statement.
The firm attributed the drop in annual net profit to a decrease in revenues from trading services and post-trade services, resulting from a 30.6 percent decline in average daily trading values.
Despite witnessing a drop in net profit for the whole year 2025, Group CEO of Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co., Khalid Abdullah Al-Hussan, expressed optimism and said that the financial results demonstrated the strength of the firm’s operating model and its ability to deliver balanced and sustainable growth, supported by continued progress in diversifying revenue streams and enhanced operational resilience.
“We continued executing our strategic priorities through the launch of a new product set, enhancing capital market infrastructure, and accelerating our data and technology capabilities to reinforce the Saudi capital market as a leading regional and global financial center,” said Al-Hussan.
Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co., through its Capital Market Authority-authorized subsidiaries, is the primary provider of securities trading, clearing, and settlement in the Kingdom.
The organization also provides technology innovation services through one of its subsidiaries.
As a foundational pillar of the Kingdom’s economy and the Financial Sector Development Program under the nation’s Vision 2030, the group is helping Saudi Arabia build a thriving economy with a technologically advanced and integrated capital market at its center.
The group’s total revenue for 2025 was SR1.26 billion, representing a 12.82 percent decline compared to the previous year.
The company achieved revenues amounting to SR638.7 million from the post-trade services sector, followed by the capital market at SR373.7 million, and the data and technology service segment at SR248.9 million.
Post-trade services were the company’s largest revenue driver at SR638.7 million, followed by the capital market segment at SR373.7 million and data and technology services at SR248.9 million.
The statement further said that total shareholders’ equity after minority interest amounted to SR3.44 billion as of Dec. 31, compared to SR3.49 billion in a year earlier period.
In a separate statement, the company said that its board of directors to distribute a cash dividend of 23 percent, or SR2.30 per share, for 2025.
