Bahrain's oil revenues last year nearly doubled to BD944 million, it was revealed yesterday. They surged to BD943.8m, an increase of BD453.8m, according to a financial report submitted by National Audit Court to His Majesty King Hamad.

Oil revenues were initially estimated at BD490m, calculated on the basis of a benchmark price of $18 per barrel.

The surge in oil revenues also pushed total government revenues to BD1,300.4m, BD494.4m more than the previous year.

This also represents an increase of 61.3pc on the budget revenues initially estimated at BD806m.

Abu Safa oilfield contributed BD733.6m, or 77.7 per cent of the total oil revenues. This also represents an increase of BD337.6m on the initial budget estimates of BD396m.

Bahrain Oil Field generated revenues of BD143.1m, up by BD120.6m on the estimated BD22.5m.

Gas exports generated BD65.2m last year, down by BD4.8m, or 6.9pc, on the initial estimates of BD70m. Gas revenues represented 6.9pc of the total oil revenues, down from 8.2pc in 2003.

Non-oil revenues topped BD334.6m, up by BD56.2m, or 20.2pc, on the budget estimates for 2004 put at BD278.4m. This represented an increase of BD44m as compared to the previous year. Non-oil revenues also represented 25.7pc of the government revenues for 2004.