MANAMA: Oil investments in Bahrain have reached $8 billion over the past few years, Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said.

This will pave the way for young Bahrainis to receive education, training and qualification in the field of oil and gas as they are key elements for the development of the sector in the future, he said.

The minister was speaking as he inaugurated yesterday the “Creativity Corner” of emerging industrial companies on the sidelines of the 5th Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition (MEPEC 2019).

Italian energy company Eni is gearing up to start drilling for the first oil exploratory well in the northern maritime bloc (No 1) by year-end and early next year, the minister said.

Other blocs are currently in the evaluation and survey phase, after National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) signed an exploration and production sharing agreement with the Italian company in June, he said.

He said Bapco has established an academy specialising in oil and gas to organise various vocational and practical programmes and studies enabling specialised innovative youth to graduate in oil sector.

The minister opened the Middle East Regional Chem-E-Car Competition, which engages students in designing and constructing a car powered by a chemical energy source.

The events are hosted by Bahrain under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

Shaikh Mohammed praised local, regional and international universities for taking part in the competition, which incites the youth to engage in process engineering sector and encourage the next generation of process engineers to innovate and add intellectual value to the growth of process engineering sector in the region.

The Chem-E-Car Competition is organised by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and supported by Sabic and Chevron.

The minister added the competition will encourage the next generation of operations engineers in the region to innovate and add intellectual value to the growth of the process engineering sector.

The minister said that the aim of this competition is to challenge university students to develop and construct a car powered by a chemical or biochemical energy source.

The top three winning teams will have the opportunity to compete in the 2019 Annual AIChE Student Conference in the US. Eight local, regional and international universities are in the fray, namely King Faisal University and King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, Al Balqa Applied University in Amman, University of Bahrain, College of Applied Sciences in Sohar and the University of Science and Technology of Jordan.

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