Countries of the Middle East’s Gulf Coast will invest $204 billion in oil and gas projects in 2009, or 11 percent more than in 2008, say organizers of October 2008’s OGS 2009 tradeshow and conference.

Some 265 projects are said to be currently underway, either in planning stages or under construction.

Regional No. 5 in reserves, the United Arab Emirates is leading the drive with $55 billion in investments, up 30 percent.

Qatar, too, has upped oil and gas spending by $3 billion to $10 billion, and oil-dependent Kuwait has raised its oil-gas spend $6 billion to $40 billion.

Meanwhile, Bahrain is focued on deeper oil reserves, while Oman targets a 50,000-barrels a day surge to 800,000 bpd. OGS also cites the Saudi plan to boost world-leading oil productoin by accessing 720 billion barrels in discovered resources.

OGS 2009 is held from Oct. 27th to 29th at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Much dedicated upstream networking, upstream and downstream, is slated. “Environmentally-friendly techniques for oil and gas procurement” are a special feature of the company-friendly sessions.