Abu Dhabi, Sep 8 (Xinhua) The combined oil production capacity in the oil-rich Gulf region is expected to increase by about 10 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2015 as a result of the huge investment pouring into the region’s oil industry, the Gulf News daily reported Monday.According to the Dubai-based project research firm Proleads, there are nearly 300 active upstream oil projects in the Gulf region, with a combined value of almost $300 billion.

Proleads believed that the Gulf region will add about 10 million bpd of capacity by 2015 if all current projects across the region meet their projected targets.

Saudi Arabia, world’s largest crude oil producer at 10.5 million bpd to 11 million bpd capacity, will produce more than half of the projected additional production with some 5.2 million bpd.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) takes the second place on the list of the additional output capacity with an estimated 1.9 million bpd, followed by Qatar (1.4 million bpd), Kuwait (one million bpd), Oman (460,000 bpd) and Bahrain (35,000 bpd).