ABSTRACT
The regime's program of inducing financial institutions to open branches in the country crystallized in 1975 and began to fade as the international petroleum market contracted during the early 1980s. As a result, four distinct phases can be discerned in Bahrain's contemporary economic affairs. Breaking the country's recent economic history down into the four periods helps to clarify both the successes and the setbacks the regime has experiences in its efforts to reduce its long–standing dependence on the islands' rapidly vanishing oil resources. The Bahrain Petroleum Company pumped more than 315 million barrels of crude oil out of the main producing field at Awali, an amount estimated at between one–third and one–half of Bahrain's total proven reserves. The relatively brief period, officials of the country's central administration joined with members of the commercial elite in setting up a wide range of large–scale, capital–intensive enterprises.
