Arash-Dorra Gas Field: Iran's Struggle with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, August 5, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia submitted a complaint against Iran to the United Nations, accusing Tehran of violating their maritime borders. According to this complaint, Iranian military vessels have illegally and repeatedly entered the territorial waters of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, undermining the sovereignty of these two countries and regional peace and security. The complaint cites two instances where Iran is accused of violating the sovereignty of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. One instance occurred on April 2, 2023 (Farvardin 14), when a vessel accompanied by two armed speedboats flying the Iranian flag entered the maritime territory of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the other relates to the entry of the supply ship Hendijan with hull number 1401 into this territory on April 21 (Farvardin 2). According to the complaint, the mentioned boats and ship approached well number 3 of the "Dorra" gas field. In the complaint, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have requested Iran to negotiate with them to determine their maritime borders. Regarding this complaint, Abdullah Al-Muallimi, Saudi Arabia's representative, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the complaint serves as a "warning" and that they do not request intervention from the UN, but if Iran repeats its violations, they will need the organization's involvement. The Dorra gas field, known as the Arash gas field in its Iranian section, is located southwest of Khark Island and south of the offshore Abu Zar oil field (formerly Ardshir) in the maritime waters between Iran and the previously neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This vast field, estimated to hold 13 trillion cubic feet (368 billion cubic meters) of gas reserves, was discovered in 1967 (1346). The neutral zone is an area of 5,770 square kilometers between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia along the Persian Gulf coast, established nearly 94 years ago in December 1922 based on the Al-Oqair Treaty by Britain to prevent the movement of nomadic tribes and to avoid border tensions. This area was officially divided between the two countries following extensive bilateral negotiations in 1970, and in July 2000 (Tir 1379), the mentioned countries agreed on the delimitation of the waters of the divided area. The first discussions between Iran and Kuwait to delimit their maritime borders were held in October 1963 (1342) and continued throughout the 1960s but led nowhere and remained as comments in meetings. In July 2000, Bijan Zangeneh, then Iran's Minister of Oil, stated that the offshore Arash field belongs to Iran, but Kuwaiti officials claim that this area is shared between Iran and Kuwait. At that time, officials from both countries announced that there were no disputes between Iran and Kuwait in this regard, and during a visit by Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah, Kuwait's Minister of Oil, to Iran in early August 2000, the oil ministers of both countries rejected any disputes regarding the delimitation of their maritime borders. In light of these optimistic statements, discussions on delimiting the maritime borders of the two countries resumed after a two-decade halt in December 2000 (Azar 1379) but yielded no results. Meanwhile, in 2001, Iran began deploying equipment to commence drilling in this field, but Kuwait threatened to complain to international bodies, preventing Iran from any activities until a definitive resolution on delimiting the maritime borders was reached. This action by Kuwait occurred while the country had begun exploratory and developmental activities on this field in a joint plan with Saudi Arabia since 2000, sidelining Iran. From Iran's perspective, the case of this shared field remains open, but Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have begun drilling in this field by forming a joint company named "KJO" and do not allocate any share to Iran. According to the company's plans, daily gas production from this field is expected to reach one billion cubic feet by 2017, to be equally divided between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In contrast, the Islamic Republic strongly opposes unilateral activities and exploitation of this field, emphasizing that a significant portion of this field lies in Iranian waters. Why have Iran and Kuwait been unable to determine their maritime borders over the past sixteen years? Undoubtedly, the prevailing political atmosphere in the region and economic issues have affected the failure to determine the maritime boundaries of the two countries, but some technical issues have also played a significant role, including: - Disputes over the baseline of the two countries and the role of islands and elevations on both sides. The baseline is a line determined by each coastal country to measure the external limits of its territorial sea and other maritime areas. In fact, the baseline forms the boundary between internal waters and territorial sea. Many discussions took place between the two countries on this issue during the 1960s, but yielded no results. In April 1993, the Islamic Consultative Assembly approved the Marine Areas Law, and Iran's baseline in this law in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea is the "straight baseline" that was approved by the Imperial Government on July 22, 1973. The use of this type of baseline is not exclusive to Iran; for example, Norway uses this method to determine its territorial waters along its jagged coastline and numerous islands. Despite this, following the approval of Iran's maritime law in 1993, the United States and EU member countries objected to Iran's baseline, and subsequently, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, including Kuwait, also announced that they did not recognize the mentioned law. - The neutral zone: Although this area was not an obstacle to bilateral discussions in the 1960s, it currently constitutes part of the existing disputes. The division of this area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 2000 based on a 10-article agreement and the determination of bilateral maritime borders has caused this border to cross the midline of the Persian Gulf and challenge Iran's sovereignty over part of its maritime territory. Therefore, Iran objects to Articles 1 and 7 of this agreement and has called for their amendment. Deteriorating relations, potential consequences. Resolving the issue of the Arash-Dorra gas field without addressing these technical disputes in the current political climate, given the lack of relations between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia and the deterioration of its relations with some Gulf Cooperation Council countries, seems impossible. In the past, Kuwaiti officials acknowledged the shared nature of this energy field between Iran and Kuwait, but these officials have changed their position and turned to Riyadh, asserting Saudi and Kuwaiti absolute ownership of this gas field. In their complaint to the UN, which is political rather than legal, these two countries have requested Iran to negotiate jointly with them to determine its maritime borders in the area in question. Following the JCPOA and nearly a year ago, the Islamic Republic designed tenders for the development of its gas and oil fields, including the Arash field, which was met with a strong reaction from Kuwait, leading to the summoning of the Iranian chargé d'affaires and the submission of a note of protest to him. This gas field, given its vast reserves, holds extraordinary importance for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which are facing a natural gas shortage, and considering the actions these countries have taken so far, it is expected that the development of this field will be pursued more rapidly. Iranian officials consider Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's unilateral actions in the Arash-Dorra gas field to be against Iran's national interests. In the absence of effective dialogue and efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, the dispatch of speedboats and naval vessels of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to patrol and establish presence around this gas field to assert Iran's sovereignty and ownership is not unexpected. The issue of this gas field at a time when Riyadh has severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and has adopted a confrontational policy towards the Islamic Republic could lead to military conflict and have dire consequences.