Kuwait (Reuters) – Kuwait’s oil minister said on Sunday he hoped Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will resolve the Neutral Zone issue by the end of 2019.

The two countries halted output from the jointly-run oilfields in the so-called Neutral Zone more than three years ago, cutting some 500,000 barrels per day or 0.5 percent of global oil supply.

“We hope that by the end of the year things will be cleared out and things will go back to normal,” Kuwaiti minister Khaled al-Fadhel told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Kuwait.