The Dorra field is owned by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signed an agreement on Sunday to develop the offshore Dorra gas field, a site that had previously raised disputes between the two countries and Iran.
Saudi and Kuwaiti media reported that the state-owned Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and energy giant Saudi Aramco signed the deal in Kuwait City, attended by Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman and his Kuwaiti counterpart Badr Hamid Al -Mulla.
The Kuwaiti company’s interim chief executive Khaled Al-Otaibi said 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 Kuwaiti pro-government newspaper Al – Anba.
He added that the agreement includes procedures for developing, re-evaluating and finalizing engineering studies for the project, as well as plans to form a technical team to implement the project.
In 2019, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to accelerate development and exploration of the field.
In response, Iran said it would also start excavating the field, which it calls Arash, “soon”, and considered the deal signed between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait an “illegal” step, stressing that Iran retains the right to invest in the common field between the three countries.
The Dorra field is owned by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
In March 2022, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said the gas field belonged to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and that Iran was “no part” of the site.
Iran and Kuwait have been holding talks for years to settle the dispute over the continental shelf at the maritime borders between the two countries, but they have yielded no results.
The dispute between Iran and Kuwait dates back to the 1960s, when each side granted the right to explore 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 metres.
