Bahrain discovers 80 billion barrels of shale oil!

• The government said earlier that the new resource is "understood to dwarf Bahrain's current reserves."

Bahrain says its largest ever discovery of oil amounts to an estimated 80 billion barrels.

The government on Wednesday disclosed details of the find, saying at a press conference that the shale oil was discovered in the offshore Khalij Al Bahrain Basin, which spans some 2,000 square kilometres in shallow waters off the country's western coast.

The gas that comes with the oil in the basin is estimated at close to 14 trillion cubic feet.

A separate discovery of gas reserves below Bahrain's main gas reservoir amounts to 10 to 20 trillion cubic feet.