Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have shelved plans for the joint development of the Dorra offshore gas field, located off the coast of the Divided Zone between the two countries.

The $500m development is now on hold, with no new drilling anticipated for 2013 or 2014, according to the Gulf News, citing a senior Kuwaiti energy source.

MEED reported in February that the Dorra gas field project was shelved pending further studies, although the reasons for the continued delays to the project were unclear at the time.

The problem revolves around the location of the pipeline from the offshore field and whether it should direct gas to the Saudi side of the border before going to Kuwait or pump gas directly to Kuwait. Land disputes in Kuwait have also held up the plans, according to the report.

The long-awaited scheme has been the subject of much speculation regarding how the gas will be shared between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which all claim partial sovereignty of the field.

The field contains an estimated 60 trillion cubic feet of gas and, when completed, is expected to provide 600 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas. The front-end engineering and design (feed) for the Dorra field has been undertaken by Australia’s WorleyParsons.