Sanaa ... Fears of the diversion of 3 ships of oil derivatives to the black market
English - Wednesday 11 November 2020 الساعة 04:55 pm
Sanaa, NewsYemen:
The Houthi militia, the monopoly of importing and marketing oil derivatives in Sanaa and its neighboring governorates, announced the arrival of 3 oil derivative ships on Monday, November 9th, to the port of Hodeidah, amid fears of their diversion to the black market.
While the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - creates many obstacles to stop the distribution and packing operations for consumers from official stations, gasoline prices on the black market are still ranging between 9-10 thousand riyals for a 20-liter container until Tuesday, November 10.
The Houthi militia announced the arrival of the ship "Suzette" loaded with 30 thousand tons of gasoline, the ship "Hawasa" loaded with 29 thousand tons of benzene, while the third ship "Bahirdar" was carrying about 30 thousand tons of diesel.
Workers in selling gasoline on the black market on Tuesday told (Newsyemen) that they had bought quantities of oil derivatives that arrived at the port of Hodeidah on board the three ships (Suzette, Hawassa, Bahirdar).
Last October, it was announced that the ship "Damas" had arrived at the port of Hodeidah, carrying 29,491 tons of diesel, and the tanker (Nama) with 27,972 tons of gasoline on board. However, the oil derivatives crisis escalated, bringing the price of the Gasoline container capacity of 20 liters to 18 and 20 thousand riyals during the same period.
Since the middle of this year, the black market for oil derivatives has increased significantly, in light of the decrease in the number and times of filling in the stations of the oil company run by the Houthi militia for the benefit of influential people and leaders in the group.
Since the decline in oil prices to their lowest level in the world about 8 months ago, the Houthi militia in the regions of Sanaa and the neighboring governorates continues to double the burden on citizens by selling the 20-liter petrol container at a price of 5900 riyals, and the diesel container at a price of 6900 riyals.
All over the streets and intersections of the capital, Sana'a, there are appearances of selling oil derivatives at black market prices, on board cars, on sidewalks, under bridges and tunnels, and these sellers use plastic barrels of various sizes and mineral water cans to fill and sell petroleum products.
From time to time, the capital, Sanaa, and the rest of the areas under the control of the Houthi militia, witness a recurring oil derivatives crisis due to what the militias claim is a result of the "coalition" preventing the entry of oil derivative ships to the port of Hodeidah.
A specialized parliamentary committee had noticed that the oil company in Sana'a closed some stations and still had available quantities of petroleum products in light of the continuing queues of citizens' cars in front of those stations, which implicitly means that the oil company was involved in stirred up oil derivatives crises in Sanaa and the neighboring provinces.
The Houthi militia receives oil support from Tehran, which it sells to citizens at prices three times higher than its prices on the global market, apart from imposing successive price increase on the prices of these materials that have reached three times their price in 2014, the year in which the Houthi militia carried out its coup and its armed control of the capital. Sanaa and state institutions under the pretext of dropping the high price of petroleum.
