KUWAIT (Reuters) -- Iran hopes that a maritime border dispute with Kuwait blocking the development of the Dorra gas field will be resolved by the year's end, Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said yesterday.

The offshore Dorra field, also shared by Saudi Arabia, has been a bone of contention between Tehran and Kuwait since the 1960s.
""We're hopeful that a result to end the issue will be found by year-end,"" Mottaki told reporters when asked when he expected the border dispute would be resolved. Mottaki was speaking after talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah.
A committee of legal and technical experts from both countries is meeting before the end of the year to discuss the issue, Mottaki said.
He also said Iran was ""studying seriously"" the possibility of exporting gas to Kuwait. Kuwait said in March that it was considering gas imports from Iraq and Iran to meet soaring demand.
State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation called in July for the rapid development of the Dorra field as the Persian Gulf Arab state struggles to meet demand for gas from power stations. KPC said then that a treaty with Saudi Arabia should be implemented quickly to accelerate development of the field.
The field lies on the Persian Gulf continental shelf between OPEC producers Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Riyadh and Kuwait reached a deal on their part of the maritime border in 2000.