Khafji

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Khafji, Saudi Arabia

Ras Al Khafji (رأس الخفجي) or Khafji (الخفجي) was historically the principle town in the neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It was only when the Japanese-owned Arabian Oil Company Ltd discovered substantial oil deposit off shore of Khafji that a permanent demarcation was established, and with Khafji being formally located within Saudi Arabia. However the agreement conclued that both states would still maintain joint rights to all natural resources within the designated neutral zone. With the termination of the Arabian Oil Company lease to explore and extract within the area, operations within the Khafji Fields reverted to a joint venture between shareholder companies representing both states, and with production being split on a 50:50 agreement between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Khafji’s notoriety however is primarily owed to the Battle of Khafji which took place in and around the town in 1991, and marks the high tide of Iraq’s advance through Kuwait and into Saudi Arabia. Khafji today remains a provincial and under developed town lacking many of the amenities you would associate with other towns of compariable size within the kingdom.