Bahrain is a small country located between Saudi Arabia and Qatar; both countries are far larger than Bahrain and are known for their large amounts of oil. Bahrain was estimated to produce about 50,000 barrels of oil a day, which is a very small number compared to Saudi Arabia’s 9.3 million barrels of oil a day in 2012, according to CNNMoney. Bahrain’s reserve was said to be only about 125 million barrels of oil, wrote Ivana Kottasová, a reporter for CNNMoney. But the small country has recently found a large amount of oil and natural gas. According to ABC News wrote that the discovery was said to be about 80 billion barrels of crude oil, and 14 trillion cubic feet of gas, which could turn the small island country into a large producer. Of course, America and what she does with this new information could create incredibly economic wealth for the small island nation.

In America, Donald Trump is trying to convert the country into an “energy independent” nation, according to CNNMoney. This means that there would be no oil imports from places like Saudi Arabia to power America and our cars, vehicles, machinery, or even factories. Trump said in an interview in 2016 that “without us, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t exist for very long.” He was talking about how, if America is not buying the Saudi Arabian oil, then the Saudi Arabian economy would not be able to function. If Trump approaches Bahrain the same way, it means that all this oil will be for naught. If the United States begins to take a protectionist stance on foreign goods, then Bahrain, even with their diverse banking-based economy, could take a massive economic hit.

With Bahrain being such a small country it is not far fetched to believe that a country like Saudi Arabia would appropriate it to control the large amount of oil. Doing this would keep Saudi Arabia as the main producer of oil and they would be able to control their oil prices with less competition. However, if President Donald Trump follows through on his energy-independent plan, then Saudi Arabia may still struggle, even with Bahrain’s massive oil reserve.

The 80 billion gallons Bahrain found in 2018 are priced at $49-$52.50 per barrel, according to CNNMoney, this means the oil alone could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The production of the oil and gas is said to start within the next five years.