巴林宣佈發現有史以來最大油氣田

Bahrain says a newly-discovered oil field contains up to 80bn barrels of tight (or shAle) oil, dwarfing the Gulf island kingdom's current reserves.

巴林政府近日表示，一個最新發現的油田，含有儲量高達800億桶的緻密油（或頁岩油），這令該海灣國家目前的石油儲量“相形見絀”。

Appraisals of the offshore Khaleej Al Bahrain basin by two US firms also suggest the presence of 280bn to 560bn cubic metres of natural gas.

兩家美國公司對位於海岸的Khaleej Al Bahrain盆地的評估也表明，這裏儲存着2800至5600億立方米的天然氣。

Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said it was not yet known how much oil could be extracted.

該國石油大臣謝赫·穆罕默德·本·哈利法·阿勒哈利法表示，目前還不知道可以提取多少石油。

But it could turn Bahrain into a major player in the global market.

但該油田可能會使巴林成爲全球市場的主要參與者。

Officials expect extraction from the oil field to begin within five years, according to Bahrain's national news agency.

根據巴林國家通訊社的消息，相關官員預計油田開採將在五年內開始。

Before the discovery, Bahrain had proven crude reserves of just 125m barrels and 92bn cubic metres of natural gas.

在該發現之前，巴林已有原油儲量僅爲1.25億桶，天然氣爲920億立方米。

By comparison, neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, has 266bn barrels of proven reserves. Qatar, the top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has 24tn cubic metres of gas.

相比之下，其鄰國、世界最大的石油出口國沙特阿拉伯擁有2660億桶探明儲量。卡塔爾則是液化天然氣的最大出口國，擁有24萬億立方米天然氣。