Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 5 /Trend M. Moezzi/
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who share the Persian Gulf's Arash oil field with Iran, will complete its design and engineering work by early June, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reports.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have protested to Iran on its drilling for gas in the field. Iran has been in talks with Kuwait over the countries' share of the field for decades. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reached agreement over the Arash field, called Dorra by Arabs, in 2000.
Saudi authorities say financing of the project has been decided and development of the field will start after seismic operations are completed.
Saudi-Kuwaiti drilling operations in the Persian Gulf oil field are scheduled for 2013.
The field's reserve is estimated at 390 million barrels of oil and one trillion cubic feet of gas from the Arash field.
According to reports, Kuwait now contends the field lies within its borders and Iran has no share in it. Kuwait hopes to produce four billion cubic feet of gas by 2030.
In 2011, Saudi Arabia produced 10.7 billion cubic feet of gas a day, 1.65 billion cubic feet a day more than it did in 1981.
The world's biggest oil producer, the country wants to increase its gas output to 15 billion cubic feet a day by 2020.
Iran has said repeatedly it is willing to develop Arash in partnership with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The Arash field was discovered in 1977 and Iran drilled its first exploration well in 1992. The field is located in the northwestern Persian Gulf between Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
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