Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa hinted on Wednesday (October 3, 2018) that his country would remain dependent on support of Gulf states until the feasibility is proved of the oil discovery announced by Bahrain earlier this year.

The king, who received a group of businessmen and traders, in the presence of his uncle the Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman and his son Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, said Bahrain succeeded "in making new energy discoveries, adding that the process of oil production, extraction, selling and refining would require some time," hailing Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait for supporting Bahrain's development programmes in all fields, according to Bahrain News Agency.

Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa announced in April 2018 that his country had discovered large quantities of oil in a field in submerged land northwest of the country on the border with Saudi Arabia, but experts questioned the feasibility of the discovery due to technical considerations related to the quantities as well as the cost of extraction.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are discussing supporting Bahrain financially after last June's news that the Bahraini dinar depreciated against the dollar to its lowest level in 17 years.

Arabic Version