Manufacturing and Natural Resources

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands with Bahrain Island, the largest mass of land. Bahrain Island accounts for about 80% of the total land area of 770 square kilometers. It is in the middle of the Arabian Gulf between latitudes 25.32 and 26.20 north and longitudes 50.20 and 50.50 east near the eastern coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Most of the island of Bahrain is a rocky limestone land covered by dry sand dunes. Oil, natural gas and fishing are among the most important natural resources in Bahrain.

Bahrain was the first country in the region to discover oil in 1932 and refinery operations began in 1936. At the end of 2012, it was proven that oil reserves were estimated at 120 million barrels. 0.02% of Arab oil reserves and 0.01% of world oil reserves. Its reserves of natural gas were estimated at 92 billion cubic meters. 0.17% of Arab reserves and 0.05% of global reserves.

Bahrain is expanding its exploration of energy sources and enhancing its production of oil, gas and petrochemicals through eight companies, most notably the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), which was founded in 1929.

Due to the availability of natural gas, in 1968, a group of foreign investors chose Bahrain as a site for them to build a smelter to secure their needs of aluminum metal. The Aluminum Bahrain Company (Alba) was established in August of 1968, which makes the Bahrain Aluminum Factory one of the largest smelters in the world.

Today, the Kingdom of Bahrain is an ideal hub for global transport and logistics companies wishing to establish or expand their presence in the GCC countries. With the support of a well-developed and interconnected transport infrastructure, Bahrain provides easy access to the GCC markets by air, land or sea.