CAIRO -- Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are planning to start work early next year on a gas field also claimed by Iran, an industry publication said Monday.

"Kuwait and Saudi Arabia set up a joint technical committee in April to draw up development plans for the offshore Dorra gas field," the London-based International Oil Daily (IOD) said, quoting an uni

The Kuwaitis and the Saudis plan to "start work on the field early next year," the daily said.

"We are engaged in an active dialogue with Iran ... but we do not recognize Iran's claim to any part of the Dorra field," the Kuwaiti official told IOD.

Kuwait is, however, willing to compromise: "Once agreement is reached on maritime borders, we will be ready to give up some smaller fields in order to solve this issue." The dispute goes back to the 1

The two concessions overlapped in the northern part of the Dorra field.