IRGC General Challenges Arab Claims Over Offshore Gas Field

Forty percent of a gas and oil field in the western end of the Persian Gulf belongs to Iran, one of the top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Abdolreza Abed, the commander of IRGC’s construction and business conglomerate, Khatam al Anbiya, challenged Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti claims that the field, off Kuwait’s coast, is within their territorial waters. Abed said that “Iran's entry into the Arash field is more essential than daily bread.”

He added, “The lack of determination and will to utilize Iran's gas resources in the Arash field has allowed neighboring countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to start extracting from this field, while we in Iran watch them, waiting to see when a decision will be made for Iran's presence in the Arash field.“

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have invited the Islamic Republic to negotiate over their territorial borders in the region.

The two Arab countries agreed in 2022 to jointly develop the field, which was discovered in 1967 and is estimated to have a total proven reserves of around 310 million barrels of oil and 20 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Saudi Aramco Gulf Operations Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2022 with Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) to develop the joint field.

The development aims at producing one billion cubic feet of gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day. The Arab countries call the field Al Durra, while Iran calls it the Arash Field.

In the dispute that dates back several decades, Iran claims any development without its consent breaks international laws, saying that 40 percent of the field is located in its territorial waters.