His Excellency Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister in charge of Oil and Gas Affairs, held a series of meetings with a number of senior officials of major American petroleum companies.



Accompanied by officials and technicians from the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), NOGAHOLDING, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), Tatweer Petroleum (TATWEER) and from the Ministry of Finance, the Minister visited the United States from the 12th to the 15th of November 2012. His Excellency and the delegation were briefed on the latest technological developments in the field of petroleum search, exploration and production. He also discussed possible co-operation with companies to develop the oil industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain.



The Minister visited several major petroleum companies such as Weatherford International, Halliburton, Lufkin, Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P), Schlumberger, Key Energy Service, as well as the [C1] offices of Occidental (OXY), the US’ fourth largest oil and gas company, based on equity market capitalization, in Houston, Texas.



His Excellency’s visit to the USA was prompted by the fact that the US petroleum sector has witnessed rapid growth and development as a result of the application of state-of-the-art technologies to unconventional resources, which has led to a remarkable increase in the production of oil and gas.[C2]



[C1]Is this correct? OXY’s corporate HQ is in LA and its registered offices are in Delaware.



[C2]This paragraph needs to be linked into the forgoing paragraphs.