The Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone, also known as the Divided Zone, was an area of between the

borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

that was left undefined when the border was established by the Uqair Convention of 2 December 1922. According to

Daniel Yergin Daniel Howard Yergin (born February 6, 1947) is an American author, economic historian, and consultant within the energy and economic sectors. Yergin is vice chairman of S&P Global. He was formerly vice chairman of IHS Markit, which merged with ...

, "The Neutral Zone was the two thousand or so square miles of barren desert that had been carved out by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

in 1922 in the course of drawing a border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In order to accommodate the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

s, who wandered back and forth between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and for whom nationality was a hazy concept, it was agreed that the two countries would share sovereignty over the area." In the area, which was later called the "Neutral Zone" or "Divided Zone", the Uqair Convention stated that "the Government of

Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...

and Kuwait will share equal rights until through the good offices of the Government of

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a further agreement is made between Najd and Kuwait concerning it". However, there was little interest in a more definitive settlement in the so-called "Neutral Zone" until the 1938 discovery of oil in the Burgan (Burqan) area of

. With the possibility of oil within the "Neutral Zone" itself, concessions were granted in 1948–1949 by each government to

Aminoil The American Independent Oil Company, commonly known as Aminoil, was a United States oil exploration and production company, incorporated in 1947.Pacific Western Oil Corporation Pacific Western Oil Corporation was a holding company for the stock of the Pacific Western Oil Company. History In 1928, Pacific Western Oil was founded to acquire the oil producing properties and undeveloped oil properties in California of Petr ...

. Oil was discovered in March 1953. Later, the two countries exploited the oil under a joint operating agreement. In 1957, Saudi Arabia signed a concession agreement with the

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-owned Arab Oil Co., and Kuwait signed in 1958. That concession expired in 2000. The company made its first offshore discovery in January 1960. The partitioning negotiations commenced shortly after the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia met and decided, in October 1960, that the Neutral Zone should be divided. On 7 July 1965, the two governments signed an agreement (which took effect on 25 July 1966) to partition the Neutral Zone adjoining their respective territories. A demarcation agreement dividing the Neutral Zone was signed on 17 December 1967 but did not formally take effect until the exchange of instruments and signing which took place in Kuwait on 18 December 1969. Ratification followed on 18 January 1970, and the agreement was published in the ''Kuwaiti Official Gazette'' on 25 January 1970. The zone was never assigned an

ISO 3166 ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions (e.g., pro ...

code since it was partitioned before the adoption of ISO 3166 in 1974. The area was quickly, but briefly, overrun during the

First Gulf War The Gulf War (1990–1991) was an armed conflict between Iraq and a multinational military coalition led by the United States, triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Persian Gulf War may also refer to: * Shatt al-Arab conflict ...

by Iraqi forces in 1991 after they invaded and occupied Kuwait; however,

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forces composed of American and Saudi contingents repelled the Iraqi offensive and liberated the area and the rest of Kuwait. Despite the zone being partitioned half a century ago, oil pumping is still done by agreements. In December 2022,

Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- l ...

and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the Durra gas field, located in the neutral zone. The development aims at producing of

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

and 84,000 barrels of

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

per day.

Recent developments

On 26 May, 2025, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have jointly announced a significant new oil discovery in the Partitioned Zone, a shared border area between the two nations. The find was made in the North Wafra Wara-Burgan field, approximately five kilometers north of the existing Wafra field. Crude oil flowed from the Wara reservoir in the North Wafra (Wara-Burgan-1) well at a rate exceeding 500 barrels per day, with an API gravity between 26 and 27 degrees. This marks the first discovery since the resumption of joint production operations in mid-2020. The discovery underscores the two countries' ongoing cooperation in energy exploration and development, reinforcing their roles as reliable global energy suppliers and enhancing their energy security and production capabilities.

References

External links

* *
U.S. Army Map Sheet NH38-16 1:250.000
(map sheet with western part of former Neutral Zone) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone Kuwait neutral zone 20th century in Kuwait Disputed territories in the Persian Gulf Territorial disputes of Saudi Arabia Kuwait–Saudi Arabia border Kuwait–Saudi Arabia relations Demilitarized zones 1922 establishments in Asia 1970 disestablishments in Asia

Recent developments

See also

References

External links