RIYADH —
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will develop a disputed gas field despite Iranian
objections, while urging Tehran to engage in negotiations, a statement said
Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The Gulf allies
will honor their deal, branded “illegal” by Iran, to develop the Arash/Dorra
maritime gas field, the Saudi foreign ministry said.
“Saudi Arabia and
... Kuwait affirm their right to exploit the natural resources in this area and
that they will continue working to enforce what was agreed upon,” it said.
But the two
countries also issued a new invitation for Iran to negotiate over the boundary
of the gas field, the subject of a dispute which goes back decades.
“The Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait, as a single negotiating party, renew
their invitation to the Islamic Republic of Iran to hold these negotiations,” the
statement said.
Tehran had in late
March said that the deal contravened “previously held negotiations”, adding
that it “reserves its right to exploit” the field.
The dust-up comes
as energy prices remain high in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The row over the
field dates back to the 1960s, when Iran and Kuwait each awarded an offshore
concession, one to the former Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the forerunner to BP,
and one to Royal Dutch Shell.
The two
concessions overlapped in the northern part of the field, whose recoverable
reserves are estimated at some 220 billion cubic meters.
Iran and Kuwait
have held unsuccessful talks for many years over their disputed maritime border
area, which is rich in natural gas.
Iranian drilling
of the field in 2001 spurred Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to agree on a maritime
border deal, which stipulated that they jointly develop the natural resources
of the offshore zone.
Kuwait said in
March that the field was expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas
per day, with 84,000 barrels of condensate daily.
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