The kingdom of Bahrain said Thursday it will set up a company to increase oil and gas production in collaboration with U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co.
"This aims at increasing the kingdom's production of oil and gas to provide for future needs," Oil Minister Abdul-Hussein Mirza was cited by the official BNA news agency as saying.
The agency didn't give further details.
Bahrain, a tiny archipelago of 35 islands, produces 37,000 barrels of oil a day, the least among its Gulf neighbors in the world's top oil exporting region.
It signed a memorandum of understanding in the oil and gas sector with Russia's monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) in November 2008. It has also held talks with neighbor Iran over gas imports.