Kuwait, Saudi to resume production from Neutral Zone fields soon

DUBAI: Kuwait's energy minister said on Tuesday production from jointly operated oilfields in the Neutral Zone shared with Saudi Arabia would resume soon, state news agency KUNA reported.

Minister Bakhit al-Rashidi said the production in the Neutral Zone's fields had been halted due to technical reasons.

"I would like to stress that there is no production in the Neutral Zone, neither from Kuwait nor from Saudi Arabia," Al-Rashidi said. "We are working with the Saudi side to resolve the technical issues and we will soon be able to restart production by both sides," he told a session of Kuwait's parliament.

The closures mainly involve Khafji field which was shut in October 2014 for environmental reasons and Wafra field which has been shut since May 2015 due to operating difficulties.

The Neutral Zone is the only place in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where foreign oil firms have equity in the oil fields, which are otherwise owned and operated by state oil companies. Crude output from the fields in the Neutral Zone is divided equally between the two countries.