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Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone

Former border zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Summary

Former border zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

FieldValue
conventional_long_nameSaudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone
image_mapFormer Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zone en.svg
map_captionThe former Divided Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
official_languagesArabic
year_end1970
year_start1922
p1Sultanate of Nejd
p2Emirate of Kuwait
flag_p2Flag of Kuwait (1940-1961).svg
s1Saudi Arabia
flag_s1Flag of Saudi Arabia (1938–1973).svg
s2State of Kuwait
flag_s2Flag of Kuwait.svg

The Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone, also known as the Divided Zone, was an area of 5,770 km2 between the borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that was left undefined when the border was established by the Uqair Convention of 2 December 1922.{{cite journal

According to historian Daniel Yergin, "The Neutral Zone was the two thousand or so square miles of barren desert that had been carved out by the British in 1922 in the course of drawing a border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In order to accommodate the Bedouins, who wandered back and forth between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and for whom nationality was a hazy concept, it was agreed that the two countries would share sovereignty over the area."{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6pGQvVqNAoC&pg=PA437 |chapter= 22: The Age of Discovery |pages=437–445 |title=The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power |date=1 December 2008 |publication-place=New York City, New York |access-date=9 July 2021 |publisher=Free Press (Simon & Schuster) |first=Daniel |last=Yergin |edition=3rd |isbn=9781439110126 |oclc=22381448 |via=Google Books }}

The Uqair Convention stated that "the Government of Najd and Kuwait will share equal rights until through the good offices of the Government of Great Britain a further agreement is made between Najd and Kuwait concerning it".

There was however little interest in a more definitive settlement in the Neutral Zone until the 1938 discovery of oil in the Burgan (Burqan) area of Kuwait. With the possibility of oil within the Neutral Zone itself, concessions were granted by Kuwait in 1948 to the American Independent Oil Company and in 1949 by Saudi Arabia to the Pacific Western Oil Corporation, the two companies cooperatively explored and developed the zone. Oil was discovered in March 1953 and the reservoirs were of significant size. The first oil was shipped in January 1954. In 1957, Saudi Arabia signed a concession agreement with the Japanese-owned Arabian Oil Co., and Kuwait signed in 1958. That concession expired in 2000.{{cite book |title=Out of the Desert: My Journey From Nomadic Bedouin to the Heart of Global Oil |publisher=Penguin Books |publication-place=London

The partitioning negotiations commenced shortly after the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia met and decided, in October 1960, that the Neutral Zone should be divided. On 7 July 1965, the two governments signed an agreement to partition the zone (which took effect on 25 July 1966). A demarcation agreement dividing the Neutral Zone was signed on 17 December 1967 but did not formally take effect until the exchange of instruments and signing which took place in Kuwait on 18 December 1969. Ratification followed on 18 January 1970, and the agreement was published in the Kuwaiti Official Gazette on 25 January 1970.

The zone was never assigned an ISO 3166 code since it was partitioned before the adoption of ISO 3166 in 1974. But for example in trade journals of the oil industry it was treated separately like a country.

The area was quickly, but briefly, overrun during the First Gulf War by Iraqi forces in 1991 after they invaded and occupied Kuwait; however, Coalition forces composed of American and Saudi contingents repelled the Iraqi offensive and liberated the area and the rest of Kuwait.

Despite the zone being partitioned half a century ago, oil pumping is still done by agreements.{{cite conference |url-access=subscription }}

Oil industry

The conclusion of the negotiations between American Independent and the Kuwaiti government was announced on July 6, 1948. Ralph Davies, former head of the Petroleum Administration for War, created during World War 2 to orchestrate the U.S. domestic petroleum industry, negotiated on behalf of American Independent. The terms were not disclosed officially and were reported as $7,000,000 initial bonus, $600,000 per year, 15% of profits and a 33-35 cents per barrel royalty.

Geologist Paul T. Walton on behalf of Western Pacific Oil negotiated with King Ibn Saud in the Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo. The concession was granted for a $9.5 million initial bonus, 55 cents per barrel production royalty with a minimum of $1 million to be paid each year (corresponds to 1,818,182bbl) and a 25% interest in net profits.

The two companies on June 30, 1949, signed an agreement amongst themselves for the first phase which involved the drilling of 4 holes to a depth of 5,000 ft and signed a further agreement on February 14, 1950, for a phase of seismographic and core drilling work.

The headquarters for the exploration crews was a refurbished Landing Ship, Tank, LST 1014, renamed MV Aminoil. The conversion was carried out by Levingston Shipbuilding Company in Orange, Texas from June 15 till September 30, 1949. The ship and the 3,000 tons of cargo represented an investment of $2 million. With the arrival of this mobile base camp via the Suez Canal in the Persian Gulf at the end of November 1949, exploration in the neutral zone commenced. The first drilling location was 25 miles inland on the border with Kuwait, in proximity to the prolific Burghan field.

During 1950, three dry holes were drilled. Wafra No. 1 was spudded on December 11, 1949, and completed at 5,020 ft on February 4, Wafra No. 2 was spudded 2 miles west of No. 1 on February 22 and abandoned at a depth of 5,250 ft on June 9. Wafra No. 3 reached 5,000 ft on October 20. In this early phase a fourth well, Fuwaris No. 1 also found nothing. In the meantime a comprehensive geophysical campaign was underway and in March 1952 the fifth wildcat (Al Hazaim) was spudded closer to the coast, but abandoned as a dry hole at 7,429 ft by June 1952. The 5-well exploratory campaign at the end of 1952 had resulted in an expenditure of $30 million and what appears to have been a gamble to drill early concurrently with geophysical work had not paid off.

Wafra No. 4 was the discovery well. It was spudded on February 10, 1953, and on March 17, 1953, struck oil at 3,470 ft and was completed at 3,620 ft.

At the end of 1953 a 34-mile 8- and 10-inch pipeline was completed to the Mena Abdulla terminal () in Kuwait, which was built concurrently and located immediately south of the Mena el Ahmadi terminal of the Kuwait Oil Company. In the first stage of completion the new infrastructure could pump 20,000 barrels per day from field to terminal tanks. The first shipment (92,000bbl) of oil sailed aboard the Tsuruoki Maru on January 13, 1954, bound for the 14,000bpd refinery of the Daikyo Oil Co. in Yokkaichi (Japan). At which time there were 2x73,000bbl storage tanks completed. The 16-inch 7,500bbl/hour submarine loading line had a length of 12,000 ft and established a berth at a depth of 48 ft of water. See map in the World Petroleum 1954-02 issue. Aminoil completed a 30,000bpd topping plant at the end of 1958 and to supply it laid a 12-inch loop line to parallel the exiting 8/10-inch line. A 32-mile 24-inch loop line was finished in 1961. The same year a 200 ft diameter, 64 ft high 600,000bbl tank was built, the largest oil tank in the world at the time. A 100,000bpd expansion of the topping plant was due to begin operations in 1962.

Pacific Western eventually established their own loading dock and named it Mena Saud () to honor the Sheikh who had ruled that they would not be allowed to continue using Mena Abdulla. A 8,674 ft 20-inch outer diameter -inch thick loading line was welded on the beach and on October 23, 1954, was floated in place and sunk at Ras az Zour. It had no coating and it did have cathodic protection. A 10-inch pipe line connected the field to the terminal. The terminal became operational in early 1955. Getty had a 50,000bpd topping plant in operation in 1959. A 31-mile 18-inch spiral weld loop line proved to be unserviceable and was replaced.

Because of the low pressure encountered at the wells of the Wafra field, pumping jacks were soon introduced. In August 1959, one half of the 62 producers were already pumping and Getty Oil had plans to reconfigure all their wells.

YearWafraKhafjiFuwarisGudairAl Hout
19546,023
19558,848
195611,725
195723,300
195829,510
195941,980420
196049,270540
196157,7057,482
196267,31921,936
196366,25448,246
196468,20061,2511,949
196564,97065,2352,046
196656,21092,9691,5452,700
196749,665101,8481,2070
196833,412109,50470613,078
196930,373110,5963924,6997,092
197039,936119,30549016,9447,225
197145,000127,80983219,4416,031
197238,422144,89678817,8855,309
197330,020139,83687616,1674,029
197439,655135,91891019,1082,558
197543,441117,00094518,1492,100
197640,165109,4901,14217,9912,925
197742,65769,3801,06820,2002,900
197838,520109,1181,20419,2802,026
197940,723134,60095518,5382,320
198038,040137,34558817,9302,555
FieldZoneDiscoveryDepthAPICumulative 1961
WafraBurgan19533,7002488,048,919
Eocene19541,200 - 2,20017 - 1963,607,691
Ratawi19557,1002547,456,827
Khafji19605,500261,909,550
Destination1954195519561957AminoilPacWesAminoilGettyAminoilGetty
USA4,148,0271,424,8361,407,069243,9713,284,005739,15212,580,231
Japan1,190,438904,7251,483,2573,680,0541,023,8034,887,678189,317
Italy174,9881,473,7391,496,5642,424,976313,132
France117,139443,3771,094,1131,587,211134,515
Germany70,117132,758
Egypt112,974896,105
Netherlands531,387
Total4,379,4353,984,4395,420,5896,017,9938,717,70813,978,785
Total5,700,7098,363,87411,438,58222,696,493
YearOilGasDryWildcatsFeet
1950-19520005ca. 32,000
1953400120,635
1954110356,391
1955130258,754
1956260383,985
195746080110,390
1958370120102,424
195940000104,267
196080000202,038

2020s oil and gas discoveries

In December 2022, Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the Durra gas field, located in the neutral zone. The development aims at producing 280000000 m3 of natural gas and 84,000 barrels of LNG per day.

On 26 May 2025, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait announced a new discovery (500bpd of 26 to 27 API gravity) 5 kilometers north of Wafra field.

References

References

  1. Hosni, Sayed M.. (1 October 1966). "The partition of the Neutral Zone". [[American Society of International Law.
  2. "KSA Kuwait 1969".
  3. Barson, E.S.. (15 September 1970). "International Boundary Study No. 103 – September 15, 1970: Kuwait–Saudi Arabia Boundary". [[United States Department of State]].
  4. Titus, James. (1 September 1996). "The Battle of Khafji: An Overview and Preliminary Analysis". [[Air University (United States Air Force).
  5. Muzoriwa, Kudakwashe. (16 February 2020). "Kuwait, Saudi to resume oil output from neutral zone this month". CPI Financial.
  6. (7 July 1948). "U. S. Group Wins Oil Grant Near Richest Arabian Deposits". The New York Times.
  7. (March 1949). "Pacific Western Deal May Alter Industry's Position".
  8. (May 1949). "Dr. Walton Negotiates Arabic Lease". California Oil World.
  9. (25 January 1951). "Neutral Zone Test - Fourth Venture Reported to be Below 7,000ft".
  10. (November 1949). "Neutral Zone Exploration to Operate from Floating Base in Persian Gulf". World Petroleum.
  11. (November 1949). "Mobile Base Sails for Persian Gulf".
  12. (5 April 1951). "Neutral Zone Test Fails".
  13. (23 June 1952). "Neutral Zone Test Dry".
  14. (15 July 1951). "Neutral Zone [during 1950]".
  15. (28 June 1954). "Wafra's Drilling, Development, and Shipping System".
  16. (6 October 1952). "Neutral Zone Costs Bared".
  17. (15 August 1953). "Neutral Zone".
  18. (15 August 1954). "Neutral Zone...".
  19. (14 December 1953). "American Independent Oil Co. - To Begin Oil Shipments From New Terminal". Commercial and Financial Chronicle.
  20. (1955). "No. 55-26: Economic Developments in Kuwait 1954". United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign Commerce.
  21. (25 January 1954). "American Independent Oil Co. - Ships From Kuwait". Commercial and Financial Chronicle.
  22. (February 1954). "Oil From Neutral Zone Enters International Trade". World Petroleum.
  23. (25 January 1954). "Second Lifting Due".
  24. (17 August 1959). "Pumping Jacks Making Bow in the Neutral Zone".
  25. (25 December 1961). "Neutral Zone".
  26. (20 November 1961). "World's largest oil storage tank built of USS T-1 Steel (advertisement)".
  27. (26 December 1955). "World Wide Oil Report - Neutral Zone".
  28. (September 1955). "Speedy Launching of Submarine Pipe Line". World Petroleum.
  29. (28 December 1959). "Neutral Zone - Japanese Speed Things Up".
  30. (May 1983). "The Petroleum Resources of the Middle East". Energy Information Administration.
  31. (1956). "Part 1, No. 56-44: Economic Developments in Kuwait 1955". United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign Commerce.
  32. (1957). "Part 1, No. 57-32: Economic Developments in Kuwait 1956". United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign Commerce.
  33. (1957). "Part 1, No. 58-21: Economic Developments in Kuwait 1957". United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign Commerce.
  34. (15 August 1954). "World Oil's 9th International Operations Issue - Neutral Zone...". World Oil.
  35. (15 August 1955). "World Oil's 10th International Outlook Issue - World Drilling Activity". World Oil.
  36. (15 August 1956). "World Oil's 11th International Outlook Issue - World Drilling Activity". World Oil.
  37. (15 August 1957). "World Oil's 12th International Outlook Issue - Free World Drilling Activity". World Oil.
  38. (15 August 1961). "World Oil's 16th International Outlook Issue - Wells Completed in the Neutral Zone, by Years". World Oil.
  39. (2022-12-11). "Aramco Gulf Operations, Kuwait's KGOC agree to develop Durra gas field, Saudi news agency reports". Reuters.
  40. Editor, Khitam Al Amir, Chief News. (2025-05-26). "Saudi Arabia, Kuwait announce new oil discovery in partitioned zone".
  41. (2025-05-26). "Saudi Arabia, Kuwait announce new oil discovery in partitioned zone".
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