Oil tanker owners DHT Holdings and Heidmar have suspended new bookings to the Mid-East Gulf, three ship brokers said, following suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

In an unprecedented step in the region, Bahrain announced on (June 2, 2019) allowing foreign companies to own 100% in projects of natural oil and gas extraction inside the country.

Bahrain is to allow foreign companies to own 100 percent of oil and natural gas extraction projects in the Gulf state, under an order issued by Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa on Sunday, Bahrain News Agency reported.

Middle East Monitor website said that the tensions in the Middle East appear to be pushing up the price of oil, with a barrel of Brent crude now costing $71.75, an increase of 1.9 per cent. The cost of a barrel of US crude, meanwhile, is now $62.48, up 2.6 per cent.

Bahrain's state-owned Tatweer Petroleum said it would sign agreements within a few weeks with Italian oil major ENI and Japan's JX Nippon to develop the Bahrain field.

Bahrain's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal will start commercial operations in May, with the first LNG shipment to be imported mostly from the UAE's ADNOC, state media quoted the CEO of Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) as saying.

Finance Minister Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that revenues from service fees, products and government goods constitute about 70% of total non-oil revenues, according to the state final account data for 2017 without subsidies.

Bahrain plans to commission its expanded oil refinery by early 2023, allowing it to sell and trade more petroleum products in the Gulf region and Asia, the chief executive of state-owned oil company Bapco said.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Bahrain's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB-' with a Stable Outlook.

Bahrain's cabinet on Monday approved a draft state budget for the next two years that projects a further reduction in its deficit to reach $1.63 billion by 2020 as part of a fiscal reform programme.

The oil crash came and went but the debt pile it left across the Gulf is still growing, leaving the region’s energy-dependent economies more vulnerable next time a crisis strikes, reported Bloomberg.

The Supreme Civil Court of Appeal rejected an appeal of a group of lawyers against the decision of the administrative court regarding the rejection of the appeal on the oil price raise and upheld the verdict of the first-instance court.

Bahrain will exclude oil products from a value-added tax (VAT) due to be implemented next year, part of an essential goods exclusion from the tax, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said on Tuesday in remarks carried by the state news agency.

Brent oil prices sank under $60 on Thursday after Saudi Arabia made remarks that were deemed overly cautious by analysts ahead of OPEC's latest output decision, AFP reported.

Bahraini oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that the National Oil and Gas Authority is currently holding discussions with several private sector entities, with a view to allowing them invest in oil projects within the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The United States cannot stop Iranian oil exports by imposing sanctions on Tehran, Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday, warning that such restrictions will ensure the market remains volatile.

Iranian oil output cannot be replaced by other oil producing countries if Tehran is hit by U.S. sanctions in November, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told the Ministry's website SHANA on Monday .

India has not yet worked out a payment mechanism for continued purchase of Iranian oil, a finance ministry official told CNBC TV18 news channel.

Saudi Aramco and Bahrain’s BAPCO have announced the commissioning of the AB-4 pipeline, a new phase of Saudi-Bahrain crude oil pipeline, the Saudi company said on Tuesday.

Bahrain's Labor Court has ordered a major oil drilling company to pay a total of over 626,000 dinars in compensation for the salaries of a total of 27 workers.