Bahrain May Follow Gulf States by Selling Oil, Pipeline Assets - Bloomberg video

Bahrain May Follow Gulf States by Selling Oil, Pipeline Assets - Bloomberg

Bahrain said it may follow other oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf by selling energy assets.

“We’ve got a lot of infrastructure assets that can easily be” structured for private-equity funding, Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

A pipeline connecting the island-nation to Saudi Arabia would be “ideal” for a private-equity deal, he said. Other infrastructure that could attract investment include a liquefied natural gas import ship and upstream assets, he said.

In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait have all accelerated multi-billion-dollar plans to sell energy assets or issue bonds off the back of them.

Last month, state firm Saudi Aramco said a U.S.-led group would invest $12.4 billion in its oil pipelines. It’s may offer a stake in its natural-gas network next. Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc, meanwhile, is planning initial public offerings of drilling and fertilizer units, after raising around $15 billion in the past year from deals involving its gas pipelines and real estate.

Bahrain is one of the Gulf’s smallest energy producers. It pumps about 50,000 barrels a day of crude from its only wholly owned fields and shares a deposit with Saudi Arabia that produces roughly 150,000 barrels a day.