Durra field: A Saudi-Kuwaiti agreement to develop the disputed offshore gas production field with Iran

4 hours ago

image copyright Getty Images

photo comment,

The Dorra field is owned by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signed an agreement to develop the offshore Dorra gas field, a site that previously raised disputes between the two countries and Iran.

Saudi and Kuwaiti media reported that state-owned Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and energy giant Saudi Aramco signed the deal in Kuwait City, in the presence of Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman and his Kuwaiti counterpart Badr Hamid Al-Mulla.

The acting CEO of the Kuwaiti company, Khaled Al-Otaibi, said that the joint efforts to develop the field aim to produce one billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day, according to the pro-government Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa.

He added that the deal includes procedures for developing, re-evaluating and finalizing engineering studies for the project, in addition to plans to form a technical team to implement the project.

In 2019, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed a deal to accelerate development and exploration of the field.

In response, Iran said that it would also start digging the field, which it calls Arash, “soon,” and considered the agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait an “illegal” step, stressing that Iran retains the right to invest in the joint field between the three countries.

The Dorra field is owned by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

In March 2022, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said that the gas field belonged to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and that Iran was “not a party” to the site.

For years, Iran and Kuwait have held talks to settle the dispute over the continental shelf area on the maritime borders between the two countries, but they did not produce any result.

The dispute between Iran and Kuwait dates back to the sixties of the last century, when each party granted the right to explore in offshore fields to two different companies, which intersect in the northern part of the Dorra field.

The recoverable gas reserves from the Dorra field are estimated at 200 billion cubic meters.