Kuwait eyes oil production with Iraq

KUWAIT CITY, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The Kuwaiti government is waiting for its counterparts in Baghdad to sign a deal to work bilaterally on oil fields along the border, the government announced.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ahmed Abdullah al-Sabah said his country signed an agreement to share oil produced from border fields.

"The Kuwaiti side already signed the declaration and now we've sent it to Iraq to sign it," he was quoted by the Emirati newspaper The National as saying.

He added that a company was created specifically to work on both sides of the border to avoid diplomatic rows.

Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 in part because Baghdad claimed Kuwait was stealing oil from the giant Rumaila oil field in Iraq's southern Basra province.

Iraq and Kuwait are still at odd over the border demarcated by the United Nations in 1993.

Iraq aims to boost its oil production from 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to 12 million bpd within six years in part from deals signed for Rumaila.

A consortium led by British oil company BP and China National Petroleum Corp. said it could increase production at Rumaila by 100,000 bpd by next year.

Years of mismanagement and crippling sanctions, however, means international companies will need to invest massive funds into Iraq to meet their objective.