Brotherhood -Houthi coordination to thwart the strategic oil pipeline in Shabwa

English - Sunday 20 November 2022 الساعة 02:31 pm
Shabwa, NewsYemen, exclusive:

The crude oil pipeline project, which is being prepared to launch work on it during the coming period, is one of the most important economic projects that the Yemeni government has sought to implement in order to raise the pace of exporting crude oil from the production fields in the governorates of Ma'rib and Shabwa.

The new pipeline, implemented by the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Minerals, is about 82 kilometers long, and at a cost of $54 million.  The pipeline connects the two fields of Jannat Hunt (Sector 5) in Shabwa, with the Ayad fields (Sector 4), which is linked to the old Soviet oil pipeline connecting to the port of Al-Nashima, south of Shabwa.

The completion of the project will contribute to ending the domination of the Houthi militia, Iran's arm, over the main transportation line known as the (Safer Marib-Ras Issa Port) line in Hodeidah Governorate.  Where the transportation of crude oil extracted from the Safer Marib fields will be diverted through a pipeline to the Jannat Hunt fields (sector 5) in Shabwa, after which it will be pumped through the new pipeline to the Ayad fields (sector 4), which is connected to a pipeline that reaches the port of Al-Nashima on the coast of the Arabian Sea.

Increasing oil production capacity

 According to a report issued by the Ministry of Oil, the new pipeline for transporting crude oil will contribute to the transfer of about 57,000 barrels per day of Marib and Shabwa oil to the port of Al-Nashima, at a rate of 25,000 barrels per day from Sector 5 Jannat Hunt, and Marib oil, Sector 18, at a rate of 20,000 barrels per day.  And the oil produced from the S1 sector with about 12 thousand barrels per day, in addition to what is produced from the Oqla S2 fields with about 16 thousand barrels per day that is not linked to the pipeline.

The Ministry affirms that it seeks to restart production facilities and re-produce crude oil from all production fields in the governorates of Shabwa and Marib, in which production in 2011 was about 100,000 barrels per day.

A strong blow to the Brotherhood and Houthi gangs

 The completion of the project will enable the government to increase the production of oil extracted from the Safer and Jannat Hunt fields, and will also reduce the exorbitant costs incurred by the government for transporting oil from those fields via land trucks to reservoirs belonging to the Ayad fields (Sector 4).

The completion of the project will be a fatal blow to the Brotherhood, which for years has controlled the transportation of crude oil by land from the Safer and Jannah fields to the export tanks connected to the port of Al-Nashima.  In addition, operating the pipeline will be a heavy blow to the Houthi militia, which controls Hodeidah and has prevented the export of oil extracted from the Ma'rib fields since 2015 through the only pipeline between the Safer fields and Ras Issa port in Hodeidah.

Since 2018, Brotherhood gangs close to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the former Vice President of the Republic, have been controlling the transportation of crude oil from the Marib and Shabwa fields via tankers to the port of Al-Nashima, and these gangs prevent any competition or entry of other independent companies in oil transportation operations.

The Brotherhood leader, Hussein Al-Huthili, is considered the prominent interface that monopolizes the process of transporting oil by land from the crude oil fields from the exploration sites in Marib, Hadramout and Shabwa to the export line linking the port of Al-Nushaimah, where Al-Huthili tankers travel a distance not exceeding 100 km, but the financial returns were described as huge and estimated at millions.  .

During the period of the Brotherhood's control over the Shabwa governorate, and the Yemeni government and presidency during the period of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his deputy, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the Al-Hathili leader enjoyed strong support, which amounted to issuing directives to huge military forces in order to protect Al-Hathili's carriers and routes.

Brotherhoods counterattack

 The new pipeline project actually began work on it before the Brotherhood took control of Shabwa Governorate, through the “Intrax Middle East” company, where the Brotherhood gangs led by the Governor of Shabwa, Muhammad bin Adio, and the companies that transported crude oil from Marib and Shabwa to the export lines in the port of Al-Nashima, rushed to extort and disrupt the project.  In order to preserve the huge revenues that were plundered and reaped by those powerful powers.

At the time, the Brotherhood’s authority worked to accuse the company of corruption and procrastination in implementing the project, despite the security risks and threats that the project was facing from the Brotherhood’s crude oil transport gangs.

The Ibn Adio Brotherhood authority formed a committee to monitor the implementation of the project, consisting of representatives of the local authority and oil offices, but that committee blackmailed the executing company and forced it to pay sums of money to allow the completion of the project.

Despite the conflict of the project with the interests of the Brotherhood’s authority in Shabwa, the Brotherhood’s authority retracted its decision of intransigence and obstruction and gave the company a green light to resume work again and complete it in 2019 AD, in the hope of controlling more money and benefits that will be reaped by the completion of the new pipeline, which will enable the Brotherhood’s authority to  The acquisition of a large part of the crude oil exported abroad through the port of Al-Nashima, which is under their control.

The Brotherhood's authority did not expect its influence to disappear in Shabwa, the government and the presidency, with the appointment of the new governor, Sheikh Awad bin Al-Wazir Al-Awlaki.  Governor of Shabwa late last year.  And the forces of the Giants and the Shabwa Defense were able to return and end the security and military control of the Brotherhood over the governorate. The scales turned, and the completion of the project became a great threat to the influence of their control over oil revenues and ending their monopoly.

Also, the change of government, the formation of the Presidential Council, and the involvement of new parties in it, including the Southern Transitional Council, reduced the influence and control of the Brotherhood and helped a lot in completing work on the project in preparation for a final link between the Jannat Hunt fields (Sector 5) in Shabwa, with the Ayad fields (Sector 4).

Brotherhood houthi Alert  to thwart the project

During the period of the Brotherhood's control, Shabwa governorate remained a major outlet for smuggling oil derivatives to the areas controlled by the Houthis, especially since the companies transporting monopolized oil derivatives are linked to the Houthi militia, led by the "Al-Huthili" company.

The demise of the Brotherhood's control in Shabwa and the legitimacy prompted the Houthi militia to move quickly to stop any steps taken by the Presidential Council to revive the national economy, especially in the oil sector.

The Houthi militia, in coordination with the Brotherhood cells in Shabwa, implemented a terrorist plot targeting the oil sectors operating in the province.  The operations of targeting the oil pipelines resumed, although they ended and stopped during the period of the Brotherhood's control over the governorate.  Up to launching targeting operations towards the port of Al-Nashima, as well as threatening foreign companies operating in the oil sectors.

The Houthi militia, Iran's arm in Yemen, was not content with threats and terrorist attacks, but rather rushed to put pressure on the owner of the company executing the new pipeline project in Shabwa, where the militias confiscated the property of the company and the businessman in Sana'a and expelled his family members to the open to stop and disrupt the project.

According to the sources, the Houthi militia raided residential homes belonging to the family of the Yemeni businessman "Jaafar Al-Kharraz" - the CEO of "Intrax Middle East" company, while the "Zainabiyyat" women's militia stormed the rooms and took the women and children out and threw them in the street in a humiliating manner, and also refused to allow them to take  their personal items.

The sources indicated that the Houthi militia announced the confiscation of all the property of the "Al-Kharraz" family and his company, after accusing him of treason and collaborating with the Yemeni government and the "aggression countries".  It is a concern that the militias highlight with all the looting and robbery they carry out in the areas they control against merchants, businessmen, citizens, politicians and opponents.

Brotherhood Instructing .. and Houthi implementing 

The serious Houthi escalation against the oil installations in Shabwa, as well as the violations that affected the Al-Kharraz family, the executor of the new transport pipeline project, reveal the fact that there is the involvement of corruption gangs that do not want the project to be completed and finished.

Analyst and political activist Saleh Al-Hanashi directly accused what he called the "Al-Huthili gang" of standing behind what happened to the family of the owner of the company executing the new oil pipeline, explaining that the only harmed by the completion of the project is the Al-Huthili company, which monopolized the oil transportation process for years and reaped huge revenues from it.

He added: Changing the oil transport line to the southern side towards the Arabian Sea aroused the ire of the influential powers - referring to the Brotherhood and Al-Houthi alliance - and they considered it an step towards secession.

Al-Hanashi said, "In addition, corruption networks and gangs see that the existence and operation of this line closes one of the widest doors to corruption that used to bring in tens of millions of dollars."

He pointed out that the major corruption gangs operating in the oil field will see the new pipeline project as a threat to their interests, which will make them lose the ability to impose their control and hegemony over the oil revenues that they have been plundering for many years.

Saleh Al-Hanashi indicated that the Al-Kharraz family company dealt with the completion of this project as a challenge before it was just a project.  I managed the work in it responsibly on behalf of all the absent state institutions and created security solutions at a time when the military and security institutions failed to provide protection.

He said that the project was completed in record time, and today there has been talk about operating this line, especially with the government announcing the start of oil production from the Jannah fields, and corruption gangs moved.

He stressed that the gangs present in the legitimacy and areas of their control instructed the Houthis in Sana'a to carry out the task on their behalf, and that the Kharaz family be punished, as the Houthis took this measure in service of the gangs of Ali Kharkha, Al-Hathili, and Dharman.