A jointly operated onshore oilfield between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will shut for maintenance, a move apparently aimed at giving the Gulf Opec allies more time to solve a long-standing dispute.


A Kuwaiti industry source told Reuters the scheduled two- weeks closure of the Wafra onshore oilfield, operated by a Saudi Arabian division of US oil major Chevron, will start soon.


“It is planned maintenance starting from tonight or tomorrow,” the source said, declining to be named because of the commercial sensitivity of the matter.


Production from the onshore fields in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was about 190,000 barrels per day (bpd), the source said.


Last month, Saudi Chevron told its partner, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, that it planned to shut down Wafra after failing to resolve various disputes with Kuwait, mainly related to the right to operate, according to industry sources.


Chevron has said it has faced problems obtaining supplies and work permits for its expatriate staff, which could hurt production in the Neutral Zone.


“While efforts continue with all appropriate parties to resolve the issue, Saudi Arabian Chevron and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company are jointly undertaking maintenance shut down at the onshore Partitioned Zone,” Chevron spokeswoman Sally Jones said in an emailed statement.


The Kuwaiti source dismissed the idea that the disputes with Chevron were the reason for the shutdown.


The Neutral Zone is the only place in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where foreign oil firms have equity in fields, which are otherwise owned and operated by state oil companies. Crude output is divided equally between the two countries.


It survived the nationalisation of the Saudi oil industry in the 1970s. Since then, Saudi reserves of 264 billion barrels, about a fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves, have been off limits to international oil companies.


Industry sources say Kuwait was angry because it was not consulted when the Chevron concession to operate Wafra was renewed by Riyadh in 2009 until 2039.