Two oilfields run jointly by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will resume operations within two months after a years-long shutdown spurred by a row between the producers, a minister said Sunday.
"We will resume operations soon," Kuwait's Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouk told a press conference. "We hope to resume within a couple of months."
Marzouk said it would take longer for production at the two fields, located in a neutral zone between the two Arab neighbours and shared equally, to resume because of technical issues. Marzouk, who said he had been in contact with his Saudi counterpart Khaled al-Faleh, said technical teams would oversee the issues that initially led to the shutdown more than two years ago.
The offshore field at Khafji pumped 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) before production halted in October 2014.
The onshore field at Wafra, which produced 200,000 bpd, shut down a few months later.
Saudi Arabia cited environmental concerns for the shutdown, but industry sources cited a dispute between the two countries. Kuwaiti authorities were unhappy about not being consulted about Riyadh's 2009 decision to renew Saudi Arabian Chevron's operating licence for 30 years, industry sources said at the time.
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