Contrary to last week's announcement that Iraq and Kuwait had reached a preliminary agreement for sharing the oil in their joint fields, a source in Kuwait told the daily al-Hayat that there were technical, security and political complications that would impede the implementation of such agreement.
There are a number of oil fields, some quite large, which are shared by the two countries. The current border between Iraq and Kuwait was drawn by the U.N. Security Council in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the subsequent defeat of the invaders in the hands of a large military coalition under the leadership of the United States.
Many Iraqi politicians, including some in senior government positions, decry the border markings as drawn during extremely unfavorable circumstances for Iraq and demand that the issue be re-negotiated, which would affect any future oil agreement between the two countries. It is known that former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, used the oil issue as one of the excuses for invading Kuwait, accusing the Kuwaitis of stealing Iraqi oil through horizontal drilling from their side of the border.
Source: Al-Hayat, Iraq, September 2, 2010
