Riyadh: Kuwait’s emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with King Abdullah during a visit overshadowed by a row between the two Gulf neighbours over a shared offshore oilfield.
“They discussed aspects of cooperation between the two brotherly countries,” along with regional and international affairs, the official Saudi Press Agency said. It gave no further details.
Kuwait’s state-run Kuna news agency said the emir headed an official delegation including the foreign minister in a “brotherly visit”, which was previously unannounced.
Kuwait on Monday played down the row with Riyadh over its decision to halt production at Khafji oilfield jointly operated by the two Arab countries.
Kuwait’s Oil Minister Ali Al Omair said he hoped the matter would be resolved through dialogue and contacts while foreign ministry undersecretary Khalid Al Jarallah said the stoppage at the 311,000 barrels-per-day facility was because of technical and political reasons.
Khafji is part of the neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia that is jointly operated by the two nations and has produced about 700,000 bpd of shared crude.
The two governments signed the neutral zone agreement almost 50 years ago.
