The Hafji oil field in Saudi Arabia's neutral zone of Kuwait will restart next year

TOKYO — In the neutral zone shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Khafji field is preparing to reopen production in 2019, Japan's Stoyo Engineering Corp.
said
Monday.

The company said it had agreed to renew its general engineering services agreement
, originally signed in 2002, with Al-Khafji Joint Operations, the operator of the Khafji and Hout fields in the neutral zone.

KJO is owned
by Aramco Gulf Operations Co.
and Kuwait Gulf Oil Co.
at a 50:50 price.

Under the GESA agreement, which will remain in effect until 2023, Toyo said it will support KJO in conducting a feasibility study for project planning to provide financial and technical support
for the operation of the field.

"The highest oil production in the oil field is 350,000 barrels
per day," Toyo said.
"Due to the recovery in oil prices, KJO began preparing to extract oil
from the field in 2019," the company added.

Kuwait's oil minister, Bakheet al-Rashidi, told the Kuwaiti National Assembly on June 26 that Kuwait had halted production from the Hafki and onshore Wafra fields for "technical" reasons and would resume production
as soon as an agreement with Saudi Arabia was reached.