Dubai announces discovery of new offshore oil field

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: The city-state of Dubai announced Thursday the discovery of a new offshore oil field - the first such in several years. No details, however, were provided as to the size of the field or preliminary estimates of its production capacity.

The Burj al Arab

Dubai's current production is primarily from four offshore fields: Fateh and Southwest Fateh, and the smaller Rashid and Falah. Margham, an onshore field, mainly produces natural gas and condensate.

The announcement was made by Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Dubai, one of seven sheikdoms that comprise the United Arab Emirates federation, has defaulted on payments on more than $80 billion of debt, which it has run up in the course of building infrastructure aimed at diversifying the economy into finance, trade and tourism.

Though part of a federation that is the world's third-largest oil exporter, Dubai's own O&G reserves have been shrinking for years, whilst another sheikhdom and federal capital, Abu Dhabi, holds majority of the reserves.