Iran will start drilling operations at the Arash gas field in the Persian Gulf in the near future, Oil Minister Javad Owji said.
“Comprehensive studies on the joint Arash field have been completed and the drilling of wells will begin as soon as the jacket is installed there,” Owji was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Arash gas field is a joint field Iran shares with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It is called al-Durra field by the two Arab countries.
Last week, Saudi Energy Minister Abdul Aziz bin Salman and his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammed Abdul Latif al-Fars signed a document on the development of the field.
The Kuwait Oil Company announced that the field is expected to produce 28 million cubic meters of natural gas per day and 84,000 bpd of gas condensate, which will be divided equally between the two partners.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are developing the offshore gas field in the Partitioned Neutral Zone that Iran claims is in its waters.
Following the measure taken by the two Arab nations, Owji said, “Although we are willing to hold talks and cooperate to develop the joint field, unilateral measures will not stop us from doing so.”
Discovered in 1962 in the Persian Gulf, the Arash field’s gas reserves have been estimated at 28 billion cubic meters along with some 310 million barrels of oil.
Iran began talks with Kuwait in 2000 to develop the field but no agreements were reached. In 2013, the National Iranian Oil Company said it had jackets and rigs ready to develop the field and if talks did not lead to a development plan, it would have the right to go ahead alone.
Also reacting to the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said, “The Arash/al-Durra is a joint gas field among Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, parts of which are located in areas between Iran and Kuwait whose water boundaries have yet to be defined.”
“Based on international regulations and procedures, any attempt to exploit and develop this field should be subject to coordination and cooperation among the three states. So the recent move by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, based on a cooperation document, is illegal and goes against the ongoing procedures and previous talks. Iran does not approve of it,” Saeed Khatibzadeh added.
Ready for Negotiation
The spokesman said Iran is ready to negotiate with the two Arab countries over the exploitation of the joint field, and to continue bilateral talks with Kuwait within the framework of the previous negotiations over the demarcation of the continental shelf.
“Iran also reserves the right to develop the gas field alone,” he added.
Commenting on the issue, Iran’s deputy oil minister for international and commercial affairs said Iran believes shared fields should be carried out jointly, which would strengthen economic ties among the countries concerned.
“Even if the border is not demarcated, the field can be developed jointly using internationally tested models,” Ahmad Asadzadeh added.
“Iran had delayed developing the shared field in anticipation of a decision on the demarcation of the border with Kuwait. But as the other side, regardless of the previous talks, is unilaterally moving to develop the field, there is no reason for delay.”
Some 23 Iranian hydrocarbon fields lie in border areas and are shared between Iran and adjacent countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
Most of Iran’s oil and gas fields lie on a belt running through its maritime boundary in the Persian Gulf and the foothills of Zagros Mountains – an extensively jagged zone that is geologically the result of the Arabian plate's collision with the central Iranian plateau.
The collision has trapped thick layers of ancient limestone and sandstone and turned them into some of the world’s biggest oil and gas accumulations.
