Saudi Arabia has confirmed that only Kuwait and it have the right to develop natural resources in the disputed Durra gas field with Iran after Tehran announced its readiness to start drilling on it.
The field, known in Iran as “Arsh” and in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as “Al-Durra,” Tehran claims it is in its exclusive economic zone in a dispute that began decades ago.
And the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, according to an informed source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that “the ownership of natural resources in the divided undersea region, including the entire Al Durra field, is jointly owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait, and they alone have full sovereign rights to exploit the wealth of this region.”
The source added: “The Kingdom is resuming its previous calls for the Iranian side to start negotiations to demarcate the eastern border of the flooded area divided between the Kingdom and Kuwait as one side of the negotiations in exchange for the Iranian side.”
On Monday, Kuwait again urged Iran to resume negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime border.
Kuwait insists it has “exclusive rights” to the offshore field with Saudi Arabia, and the two countries agreed to jointly develop it last year.
Last year, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to develop the field, despite objections from Tehran, which called the deal “illegal”.
Last week, the chief executive of the National Iranian Oil Company, Mohsen Hajeste Mehr, said, “We are fully prepared to start drilling at the Arash field,” according to Iranian news agency Fars.
Hajeste Mehra’s remarks come as Riyadh and Tehran strengthened their cooperation after resuming relations in March, after relations between the two rival regional powers were cut off for 7 years.
The dispute over the Durra field dates back to the 1960s, when Iran granted a maritime concession to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which later became BP, and Kuwait granted a concession to Royal Dutch Shell. .
The two concessions intersect at the northern end of the field, which has an estimated natural gas reserves of 220 billion cubic meters.
Iran and Kuwait have been negotiating their gas-rich maritime borders for years, but they have all failed, and Saudi Arabia is part of the conflict, given that it shares offshore gas and oil resources with Kuwait.
Source: agencies
