DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain says it has discovered its largest oil field since the country's first oil well began operation nearly 90 years ago.

The government said Sunday that the new resource is "understood to dwarf Bahrain's current reserves."

Details about the initial findings of size and extraction viability are to be released by the Oil Ministry at a news conference Wednesday.

Bahrain says the tight oil and deep natural gas field was discovered off the west coast of the island in the Khaleej Al Bahrain Basin.

The non-OPEC producer extracts oil from an offshore field it shares with Saudi Arabia and the onshore Bahrain field.