When Kuwait’s Amir visited Tehran last month, the focus was on gas and a much-trumpeted deal for Kuwait to import natural gas and LNG from fellow OPEC producer Iran. Any suggestion, however, that the two sides came close to cooperating on the development of the disputed Dorra offshore gas field have been knocked down by Saudi Arabia, which sees little role for the Iranians.

The Dorra field, which is known as Arash in Iran, lies in waters offshore the Neutral Zone shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and contains an estimated 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Iran has long laid claim to parts of the field it says lie in its waters. Not so, says a senior Saudi oil official, drawing a line to prove his point that the field lies outside the territorial boundaries of Iran. (CONTINUED - 800 WORDS)