Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Assert Joint Ownership of Offshore Gas Field. Urge Iran to Engage in Talks

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reaffirmed that they jointly own rights to natural resources in the Gulf's Durra gas field, Saudi state news agency SPA reported early on Thursday, citing a statement from the Saudi foreign ministry.

The foreign ministry also said both countries are renewing calls for Iran to engage in negotiations on the demarcation of the eastern border of the Gulf's maritime "Divided Area," SPA said.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will negotiate as one party, with Iran acting as the other side in the talks "in accordance with the provisions of international law," the Saudi foreign ministry added.

Iran has previously said it has a stake in the Durra field and called a Saudi-Kuwaiti agreement signed last year to develop it "illegal."

Iran said on Sunday it would pursue its rights over the field if other parties shunned cooperation, a few days after Kuwait's oil minister said his country would start drilling and begin production without waiting for border demarcation with Iran.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher in Cairo, Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)

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