TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi and Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah met in Tehran on Sunday to discuss energy ties focusing on the development of Arash joint gas field.

Moreover, exporting annually 3-4 billion cubic meters of natural gas produced in Iran's South Pars gas field to Kuwait was the other major topic of the meeting, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The massive Arash field is shared by Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where it is known as ‘Dorra’, and is a contested area between Tehran and Kuwait.
The Arash field reserves are believed to contain around 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas.
According to the Energy Intelligence website, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have set up a joint venture called ‘Khafji Joint Operations’ to start a fresh offshore drilling campaign.
The venture, owned by Aramco Gulf Operations and Kuwait Gulf Oil Co., will carry out exploration work in an area shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Last year, Head of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, told Shana news agency that the three neighboring countries could jointly invest in the field, develop it and finally, export natural gas from the field to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Kuwait claims it owns more than 50 percent of the field, while Iran believes that the two countries have equal ownership.
According to Oil and Gas Journal, Iran’s 2008 estimated proven natural gas reserves stand at 948 Tcf, second only to Russia. Roughly two-thirds of Iranian natural gas reserves are located in non-associated fields, and have not been developed. Major natural gas fields include: South and North Pars, Tabnak, and Kangan-Nar.
Kuwait had, according to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey, proven oil reserves of 101.5 billion barrels at the end of 2007 or 8.19 percent of the world's reserves, and around 1,600 producing oil wells. Kuwait is OPEC’s third largest oil producer. The country holds a modest amount of natural gas reserves. According to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey, Kuwait had in 2007 proven natural gas reserves of 1.78 trillion cubic meters (1 cm = 35.3 cf), 1 percent of the world total