An agreement between Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to develop an offshore gas field was dismissed by Iran as “illegal”, saying it must be included as one of the parties.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Durra/Arash gas field located in the interlocking marine region between Kuwait and Iran is a joint offshore gas field shared by the three Gulf countries, in a statement on Saturday.
The spokesperson said Iran reserves the right to develop and operate the field in coordination with the other two parties, taking strong exception to the agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Monday.
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Fares and his Saudi counterpart Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud, who announced that the project will be jointly developed by Saudi-based Aramco Gulf Operations Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, announced that agreement on Monday, with both countries sharing the output equally.
According to reports, the gas field is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of condensate per day.
With some estimates putting the reserves of the field at 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of oil, the gas field was developed in the 1960s and is yet to be demarcated between Iran and Kuwait.
Khatibzadeh said any action in developing and operating the gas field must take place “in coordination and cooperation of all three countries.”
