Bahrain is considering a $1 billion sovereign bond issue and has invited banks to bid on arranging the issue, IFR Markets, a unit of Thomson Reuters, said on Wednesday.

The kingdom, a non-Opec oil producer, may launch the longer-term bond issue towards the end of March, aiming to raise $1 billion or higher, IFR said.

Bahrain issued a $1.25 billion 10-year bond last March which was heavily oversubscribed. That issue was run by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.

IFR said bank responses were due on February 7.

Bahrain plans to spend BD 5.3 billion ($14.06 billion) over the next two years and oil prices need to rise to $97-$100 per barrel to balance its budget, the finance ministry said last month.

The 2011 budget deficit was set at BD 372.7 million, well below an original plan of BD 1.3 billion for 2010.-Reuters