Protesting Iran's oil and gas exploration plans in disputed areas, Kuwait urges Tehran to negotiate maritime border demarcation

Kuwait on July 3 once again asked Iran to sit at the negotiating table on maritime border demarcation, after Tehran announced its readiness to conduct oil and gas drilling at an offshore field where the two sides are in dispute.

Kuwait kêu gọi Iran đàm phán phân định biên giới trên biển

Iran and Kuwait have been negotiating over the demarcation of their disputed maritime border, but have yet to reach an agreement. Illustrative photo. (Source: Al Arabiya)

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have “exclusive rights” to the natural resources of the Al-Dorra field, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said on July 3. Accordingly, the Kuwaiti state urged Iran to negotiate on the demarcation of the maritime border.

Previously, this gas field was also claimed by Iran in a decades-long dispute and named Arash, while Kuwait and Saudi Arabia called it Al-Dorra.

In 2022, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to develop the area, despite Tehran's strong objections and calling the deal "illegal".

In a speech last week, Mohsen Khojsteh Mehr, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said the company was “fully prepared to start drilling at the Arash joint oil and gas field.”

Expressing surprise at Iran's plans, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Saad Al-Barrak said the decision "contravenes the basic principles of international relations."

The dispute over the Arash/Al-Dorra field dates back to the 1960s, when Kuwait awarded the concession to Anglo-Iran Petroleum, the company that later became BP, while Iran awarded the concession to Royal Dutch Shell.

Notably, these two concessions overlap in the northern part of the mine, which has estimated reserves of about 220 billion cubic meters.

For many years, Iran and Kuwait have held talks to demarcate the disputed maritime border area, but so far the two sides have not reached any specific agreement.

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