Arabian Oil Co. said Wednesday it has signed memorandums with the Kuwaiti government that oblige the two sides to seek to reach an agreement by Jan. 29 to allow Arabian Oil to continue tapping Kuwait's Khafji oil field.
The documents were signed by Arabian Oil President Keiichi Konaga and Kuwaiti Oil Minister Adil Khalid as-Sabih, the company said.
An accord would empower Arabian Oil, Japan's biggest crude oil producer, to continue producing crude oil at the offshore field beyond January 2003, when its current concessions there expire.
The Khafji oil field straddles the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Arabian Oil lost concessions to the Saudi Arabian portion of the same oil field in February 2000.
"Our company intends to make utmost efforts to strike an agreement as speedily as possible so as to secure our involvement in drilling oil in the divided offshore field beyond January 2003," Arabian Oil said in a statement.
Five accords, whose specifics Arabian Oil and Kuwait are seeking to devise by Jan. 29, include one that would empower Arabian Oil to buy crude oil from Kuwait on a long-term basis.
Another agreement would allow Kuwait to purchase technical support from Arabian Oil for a new drilling company that the Kuwaiti government plans to set up, so that it can tap crude oil in the Khafji field by teaming up with Arabian Oil, it added.