Saudi, Kuwait reject Iran claims to disputed gas field

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said they have sole ownership of a disputed gas field also claimed by Iran, in an escalating feud after Tehran threatened to pursue exploration.

Details:

The offshore field, known as Arash in Iran and Dorra in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has long been a focal point of contention between the three countries.
The two Arab Gulf states renewed their previous and repeated calls to the Islamic Republic of Iran to negotiate the demarcation of their maritime borders to settle the issue.
Iran and Kuwait have held unsuccessful talks for many years over their disputed maritime border area, which is rich in natural gas.

Origin of the dispute:

The row over the field stretches back to the 1960s, when Iran and Kuwait each awarded an offshore concession, one to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the forerunner to BP, and one to Royal Dutch Shell.
The two concessions overlapped in the northern part of the field, whose recoverable reserves are estimated at some 220 billion cubic metres (nearly eight trillion cubic feet).
Last year, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to jointly develop the field, despite objections from Iran which branded the deal as “illegal”.
It is noteworthy that the borders between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been delineated, while the borders between Iran and Kuwait remain a subject of bilateral dispute.

Countries sharing Border:

Iran:
- Iran borders Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.
- It shares maritime borders with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia:
- Shares border with: Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
- Saudi Arabia shares maritime boundaries with Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea in the Red Sea, and with Iran, and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
Kuwait:
- Kuwait is bounded to the west and north by Iraq, to the east by the Persian Gulf, and to the south by Saudi Arabia.