Saudi Arabia urges Iran to rejoin maritime demarcation talks

Tehran reiterates its plans to drill in the Al Durra offshore gas field

Oil and gas platforms in the Arabian Gulf have in the past been harassed by Iranian vessels. Jeff Topping / The National

Saudi Arabia has renewed calls for Iran to rejoin talks on demarcation of their maritime borders in the Arabian Gulf after Tehran repeated its intentions to drill in an offshore gas field shared by the kingdom and Kuwait.

The appeal from Riyadh comes a day after Kuwait also called on Iran to rejoin maritime border talks, with Tehran having announced that it would develop what it considers its part of the Al Durra natural gas field.

“The ownership of the natural resources in the divided marine area, including the entire Al Durra field, is shared between the kingdom and the state of Kuwait only,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

Kuwait’s parliament debated Al Durra's ownership on Tuesday, when six MPs demanded that the National Assembly’s foreign relations committee review measures taken by the ministries of foreign affairs, defence, interior and oil, as well as any other government body, to safeguard the country's national interests and rights in relation to the field.

Kuwait and Iran have held several rounds of negotiations to demarcate the borders of the Al Durra gas field, with the most recent talks taking place in March.

The dispute surrounding the field, which is known as Arash in Iran, dates back several decades.

In 2022, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed a joint agreement to develop the field despite objections from Iran, which described the deal as illegal.

An offshore oil platform associated with the Marjan field. Getty Images

Kuwait's Oil Minister Saad Al Barrak said on Tuesday he was surprised by the Iranian plans, which, he said, "contravene the basic principles of international relations".

"We categorically and totally reject Iran's planned activities around the premises of the Al Durra offshore gas field," he said.

Last week, Mohsen Khojsteh Mehr, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, said "preparations are fully in place to start drilling in the joint Arash oil field".

"Considerable resources have been allocated to the board of directors of the National Iranian Oil Company to implement the development plan for this field," he said, Iranian state media reported.

The row over the Al Durra field stretches back to the 1960s, when Iran and Kuwait were each awarded an offshore concession, one to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the forerunner to BP, and one to Royal Dutch Shell.

Kuwait's Oil Minister Saad Al Barrak arrives to attend the 8th Opec International Seminar at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, July 5 2023. EPA / Max Slovencik

The two concessions overlapped in the northern part of the field, which has recoverable reserves estimated at about 220 billion cubic metres.

Tehran claims that 70 per cent of the Al Durra field lies within its maritime boundaries, but Iran has yet to demarcate its borders on the eastern edge of the neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The field is thought to produce one billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of condensate per day.

In the past, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have reported attacks by the Iranian Navy in the waters adjacent to the neutral zone.

Iran shares the world’s biggest gas field with Qatar. In May, both countries signed a $10 billion agreement on the field's development by QatarEnergy and French-owned Technip Energies. The Iranian part, known as South Pars by Iran and North Field by Qatar, supplies 70 per cent of Iran's gas.

Analysts told The National that Saudi Arabia's recent rapprochement with Iran could come into play and encourage Tehran to engage in maritime border negotiations in the near future.

"The Saudi-Iran restoration of diplomatic relations included talk of developing joint oil fields. Kuwait has held negotiations with Iran on the border but maintains its position that Al Durra belongs entirely to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," said Robin Mills, chief executive of Qamar Energy and a contributor to The National.

Nora Bakhsh, a researcher on Saudi Arabia and Gulf affairs, told The National that while the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia was looking positive so far, these negotiations are still in the beginning stages and Tehran's claims to Al Durra could pose additional challenges to them.

"The recent claims by Iran to the Al Durra gas field could complicate rapprochement going forward, or be used as leverage for Iran to protect its interests whether it comes to the oil field, maritime borders, or other matters that may be happening behind the scenes," Ms Bakhsh said.

Iranian worker at the Nouri Petrochemical facility in the South Pars gas field in the southern Iranian port of Assaluyeh. AFP

Iran has faced domestic gas shortages due to record high consumption, particularly during its winter seasons when household heating demands rise.

Iran says it shares 28 oil and gas fields with neighbouring countries in the Arabian Gulf.

Offshore gas fields in the Gulf have been characterised by increased tensions in the past. In 2017, the Saudi Navy said it had captured three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from a boat approaching the kingdom's Marjan offshore oil field.

Naif Aldandeni, an energy strategy specialist from Saudi Arabia, said he was not surprised by Iran’s recent claims to Al Durra.

“Iran only announced its drilling operations in the Al Durra field after it was confirmed that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had made progress in developing it and were close to finalising plans and awarding contracts to the executing companies,” Mr Aldandeni said on Twitter.

“The field constitutes a huge national wealth and a strategy for growth in both countries, and it is not possible to assign a cubic millimetre of it to any third party,” he added.