By Anas al-Bar | 2023-08-16

A dispute among Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran over ownership of al-Durra gas field that erupted in July when Iranian officials issued provocative statements points to the fragility of the Saudi-Iran rapprochement, officials said.

Tehran claims it has a stake in the field, known as Arash in Iran, and in July announced it "will not tolerate any violation of its rights." It says part of the field falls within its maritime borders and is an extension of the offshore Arash field.

But Kuwait and Saudi Arabia claim they alone have full sovereign rights to the offshore gas field in the Arabian Gulf, discovered in the 1960s.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait say the field in the northwestern corner of the Gulf is in their neutral zone, while Iran claims a northern portion of the field.

The two Gulf states repeatedly have called on Iran to engage in negotiations to demarcate the eastern border of the submerged area, but to no avail.

Earlier this year, Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil and Acting Minister of Finance Saad al-Barrak said the two Gulf states would begin drilling and production from the field, without waiting for a demarcation deal with Iran.

On August 7, Saudi Arabia reiterated that plans with Kuwait to explore al-Durra field were going ahead.

Border demarcation first

The common sea area between the three countries covers 2,230 square miles (5,775 square km) and holds massive gas and oil reserves.

Gas reserves at al-Durra field are estimated at 60 trillion cubic feet, and crude oil at about 30 billion barrels.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed a cooperation agreement to develop the field -- which has an estimated 220 billion cubic meters of recoverable reserves -- on March 21, 2022.

They aimed to produce 1 billion cubic feet per day of gas and 84,000 barrels per day of condensates, sharing revenues equally between them.

Iran objected to the agreement, calling it illegal and demanding the adoption of "quotas" and joint use of the field.

Iranian officials also urged their government to accelerate exploration and drilling in order to be the first to exploit the field and "preempt" any development by Kuwait and Riyadh.

"We categorically and totally reject Iran's planned activities around the premises of al-Durra offshore gas field," al-Barrak said in a July 5 statement.

"Iran must first enter into the demarcation of international borders, and after that, whoever has a right will get it according to the rules of international law," he said.

Iran's quest for hegemony

The resolution of the al-Durra disagreement will be the first real test of the durability of the agreement to normalize Iranian-Gulf relations, experts said, noting that the latter is being undermined by veiled threats from Iran.

The dispute over al-Durra field "revealed Iran's true intentions", said political science lecturer Abdullah al-Dakhil of King Saud University in Riyadh.

"Iranian intentions are based on expansion and acquisition in any way possible, be it at the expense of its neighbors or countries in which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a presence," he said.

Iran has once again flopped politically and diplomatically, he said, noting that the incident comes amid a cooling of Iranian-Gulf and Iranian-Saudi relations.

The issue could lead to "unprecedented complications in the Gulf region if Iran carries out on its threats and begins drilling operations that may coincide with Kuwaiti and Saudi [drilling] operations," he added.

What this means is that "Iran cannot be trusted at all," he said.

Iranians must "dump the threatening rhetoric" and erase all thoughts of hegemony and expansion from their minds, Kuwaiti journalist and analyst Ayed al-Mannaa said in July statements to the media.

It is in their interest to establish good relations with their neighbors, he said, adding that Gulf countries "remain committed to efforts to establish peace and friendly relations" with Iran.

Resolving border disputes

Al-Mannaa pointed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's desire to be one negotiating party opposite the Iranian side in the discussions to demarcate the borders and settle the issue with Iran.

Tehran opposes this, however, and has been wanting to negotiate with the two countries separately, he said, which some analysts see as an Iranian attempt to create a "rift in the unified position between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia."

Kuwait is adopting a "counter-strategy to the Iranian strategy" that emphasizes unity of ranks between the Kuwaiti and Saudi positions on al-Durra field, international relations and strategic affairs researcher Ali Bakeer told Arabi21.

Kuwait's position is "to deny Iran any opportunity to exert pressure on it and impose a fait accompli," he said in an article published August 5.

Kuwaiti-Iranian bilateral talks held over many years, most recently on March 13, have not resulted in an agreement to end this decades-old border dispute.

Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies director Ghazi Faisal Hussein called on Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia to submit a case to the International Court of Justice for international arbitration.

"Each party must submit maps, documents and papers proving its right to the field, and the court's ultimate decision must be respected," he said.

He noted that this happened with the international court's 2001 decision that ended a decades-long border dispute between Bahrain and Qatar.

"Border disputes are one of the common problems between countries, and destructive conflicts and wars could erupt from them, as the issue relates not only to borders and sovereignty, but also shared wealth," he said.

Hussein said it is possible to contain any "catastrophic repercussions" stemming from these conflicts if there is legal recourse and the geographical, economic and sovereign rights of each country are established.

-- Waleed Abu al-Khair contributed to this report from Cairo.