Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone
The Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone, also known as the Divided Zone, was an area of between the borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that was left undefined when the border was established by the Uqair Convention of 2 December 1922.

According to Daniel Yergin, "The Neutral Zone was the two thousand or so square miles of barren desert that had been carved out by the British in 1922 in the course of drawing a border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In order to accommodate the Bedouins, who wandered back and forth between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and for whom nationality was a hazy concept, it was agreed that the two countries would share sovereignty over the area."

In the area, which was later called the "Neutral Zone" or "Divided Zone", the Uqair Convention stated that "the Government of Najd and Kuwait will share equal rights until through the good offices of the Government of Great Britain a further agreement is made between Najd and Kuwait concerning it".

However, there was little interest in a more definitive settlement in the so-called "Neutral Zone" until the discovery, in 1938, of oil in the Burgan (Burqan) of Kuwait. With the possibility of oil discovery within the "Neutral Zone" itself, concessions were granted in 1948–1949 by each government to Aminoil and Pacific Western Oil Corporation. Oil was discovered in March 1953. Later the two countries exploited the oil under a joint operating agreement.

In 1957, Saudi Arabia signed a concession agreement with the Japanese-owned Arab Oil Co., and Kuwait signed in 1958. That concession expired in 2000. The company made its first offshore discovery in January 1960.

The partitioning negotiations commenced shortly after the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia met and decided, in October 1960, that the Neutral Zone should be divided. On 7 July 1965, the two governments signed an agreement (which took effect on 25 July 1966) to partition the Neutral Zone adjoining their respective territories. A demarcation agreement dividing the Neutral Zone was signed on 17 December 1967 but did not formally take effect until the exchange of instruments and signing which took place in Kuwait on 18 December 1969. Ratification followed on 18 January 1970, and the agreement was published in the "Kuwaiti Official Gazette" on 25 January 1970.

The zone was never assigned an ISO 3166 code since it was partitioned before the adoption of ISO 3166 in 1974.

Saudi and Coalition forces repelled Iraqi forces when they breached this area in 1991

Despite the zone being half-century gone, oil pumping is still done by agreements.
Q3088715
borders
LOC
Q851
Saudi Arabia
LOC
Q817
Kuwait
LOC
Q94635
Uqair Convention
MEDIA
Q714148
Daniel Yergin
PER
Q180688
Bedouin
Concept
Q1756914
Najd
ORG
Q145
Great Britain
LOC
Q1014779
Burgan
LOC
Q817
Kuwait
LOC
Q28222112
Aminoil
PER
Q104862435
Pacific Western Oil Corporation
UNK
Q106487
ISO 3166
ORG
Q74091
Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone
Concept
1922-12-02T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2 December 1922
DATE
1922-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1922
DATE
1938-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1938
DATE
1948-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1948
DATE
1953-03-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
March 1953
DATE
1957-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1957
DATE
1958-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1958
DATE
2000-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2000
DATE
1960-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 1960
DATE
1960-10-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
October 1960
DATE
1965-07-07T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
7 July 1965
DATE
1966-07-25T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
25 July 1966
DATE
1967-12-17T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
17 December 1967
DATE
1969-12-18T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
18 December 1969
DATE
1970-01-18T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
18 January 1970
DATE
1970-01-25T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
25 January 1970
DATE
3166-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
3166
DATE
3166-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
3166
DATE
1974-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1974
DATE
1991-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1991
DATE
+1949^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1949
NUMBER
country
country
main regulatory text
inception
country
country
country
diplomatic relation
diplomatic relation
shares border with
country