Kuwait and Iraq in oilfield talks (04/04/05)

A joint Kuwaiti-Iraqi commission is studying ways to regulate production from a large oilfield that extends into the two nations, the emirate's energy minister has said. "We have formed a joint commission with the Iraqis to study the issue," Shaikh Ahmad Fahd Al Sabah said in a lecture at Kuwait Economic Society.

The commission will regulate production

"We have two options. The first is to have joint production operations like in the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone, and the second is to hire a foreign company for production," the minister said.

"We are currently considering the issue in order to prevent any problems that may strain bilateral relations," he said.

The oilfield is known as Rumaila in Iraq and Ritqa in Kuwait.

Rumaila, the second largest oilfield in Iraq, has 900 wells and produces more than one million barrels per day (bpd, while Ritqa's daily output is around 50,000 bpd. Shaikh Ahmad categorically denied that the emirate was illegally producing from the area.

Kuwaiti Al Anbaa daily also published a report from the Iraqi media agency, a private online news service, claiming that Kuwait has been stealing Iraqi oil from north Rumaila field. The joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti commission met the last time in December and approved a deal to export Iraqi natural gas to the emirate.

Source: TradeArabia