Disputed Gulf Oil Field To Test Restored Iran-Saudi Diplomatic Relations

A dispute between Kuwait and Iran over the Al-Dorra field in the Persian Gulf may provide the first significant test to newly restored diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia - which has included the recent reopening of the Iranian embassy in Riyadh and a Kuwait visit by Iranian FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in June.

• Kuwait claims that Kuwait and Saudi jointly hold "exclusive rights" to the Al-Dorra field but has invited Tehran for tripartite talks on maritime border demarcation after Iran said last week that it was preparing to begin drilling the field.
• National Iranian Oil Company managing director, Mohsen Khojsteh Mehr, said last week that "there is full preparation to start drilling in the joint Arash oil field," with another Iranian oil industry official adding: “It seems that we have surrendered the joint fields to the neighbors.”
• Saudi Aramco and the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company agreed to jointly develop the field, estimated to have reserves of around 310 million barrels of oil and 20 trillion cubic feet of gas, last year.
• Kuwait’s state news agency reports the development plans produce 1 billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day.