Iran not part of Durra gas field: Kuwait

ISTANBUL

Kuwait said Tuesday that the offshore Durra/Arash gas field belongs to the Gulf nation and its neighbor Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah said both Kuwait and Riyadh have the exclusive right to invest in the gas field.

“Iran is not part of the gas field. It is a purely Kuwaiti-Saudi gas field,” he added.

On Saturday, Iran dismissed an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to develop the offshore field as "illegal," saying it must be included as one of the parties.

The agreement was inked last week by 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, with both countries sharing the output equally.

The gas field is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of condensate per day, according to reports.

The field, developed in the 1960s, contains large gas reserves, with some estimates putting it at 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of oil.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar