Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Tuesday will shut their jointly operated oilfield to carry out a two-week maintenance, sources told Rueters.
The Wafra field, operated by Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc., a Chevron Saudi division, will reportedly shut to give the two Gulf Arab states more time to solve a long-standing dispute, accoridng to Reuters.
Production from the fields in the Neutral Zone, also known as the Divided Zone, between the borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has been estimated at about 190,000 barrels per day, a source told the news agency.
Saudi Chevron in April told Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, the fields’ Kuwaiti operator, that it planned to shut down the Wafra field due to unresolved disputes, mainly related to operational rights on the field, according to industry sources.
Chevron has also said that production from the Neutral Zone could be hurt as it faced problems obtaining supplies and work permits for its expatriate staff.
“While efforts continue with all appropriate parties to resolve the issue, Saudi Arabian Chevron and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company are jointly undertaking maintenance shut down at the onshore Partitioned Zone,” Chevron spokeswoman Sally Jones told Reuters in an emailed statement on Monday.
However, a Kuwaiti source dismissed the claims that disputes with Chevron were the reason for the shutdown, the agency reported.
The Saudi-Kuwait Neutral Zone is an area of 2,230 square miles and holds an estimated 5bn barrels of proven oil reserves, which is equally divided between the two countries.Â
As well as the Wafra field, Saudi Arabian Chevron and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) operate the Humma, South Fuwaris, and South Umm Gudair fields in the Neutral Zone, which according to the EIA has a with a daily crude oil output of about 520,000 barrels of oil per day and a total capacity of 600,000 bopd.
