Kuwait, Iraq near shared oilfields deal

Kiwait: Kuwait and Iraq are expected to reach an agreement soon setting guidelines for investing in oilfields which cross their desert border, a newspaper reported yesterday.

When Iraq invaded its small Gulf Arab neighbour 20 years ago, Baghdad accused Kuwait of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from these fields through horizontal drilling. Kuwait denied the charge.

Ties resumption

The Al Jarida daily said in an unsourced report that a committee from the two countries met on Sunday in Kuwait to discuss the matter and an agreement was imminent.

The newspaper said Kuwait and Iraq will delegate a "third party" it did not name to determine the size of these fields and each country's share in them.

Several fields straddle the desert border that was demarcated by the United Nations after the 1991 Gulf War that liberated Kuwait.

Opec member Kuwait is the world's fourth largest oil exporter. It has resumed ties with Iraq since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussain, who ordered the invasion of Kuwait.