The repercussions of the war on the oil sector.. Houthi crimes double the peace bill
English - Monday 17 April 2023 الساعة 02:35 pm
Al-Mocha, NewsYemen, exclusive:
Amid the noise of the recent movement in Yemen with the aim of finding a peaceful settlement to end the war and conflict in the country, which caused the largest humanitarian catastrophe, according to the United Nations, the magnitude of the challenge in the success of this mission emerges due to the heavy bill of what the war left over the past eight years on various files.
The economic file represents one of the most important of these challenges in comparison to the magnitude of the repercussions of the war on the economic situation in Yemen, and this seemed clear, after the issues of this file became the most points of contention in the ongoing consultations between the Houthi group and Saudi Arabia through Omani mediation, the last of which took place in Sanaa last week.
Where the item of salaries, the unification of the currency and the central bank represented the most important points of contention in these consultations, despite the initial agreement on it, its implementation details are still a matter of disagreement, especially the issue of disbursing salaries in areas controlled by the Houthi group from oil and gas revenues.
Apart from the nature of the dispute over the salary item as a matter of limiting it to the 2014 statements and to civil servants only, while the Houthi group insists that it include the military and security personnel, in addition to the refusal of some forces such as the Southern Transitional Council to spend it from the revenues of oil and gas produced and sourced from the liberated areas, the difficulty is in This aspect goes beyond all that.
A difficulty represented by the deteriorating situation of the oil sector in Yemen due to the repercussions of the war that the Houthi group ignited in 2015 AD, and the failure of the legitimate government’s attempts since its resumption of production and exports in 2017 to restore the level of production to what it was before the group’s coup in 2014 .
Despite the fact that the government has not disclosed, throughout these years, the real daily production in official reports, statements by its officials say that it ranges between 60-70 thousand barrels. While the latest report of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) says that it reached 95,000 barrels per day in 2020.
These numbers remain lower than the level of oil production before the Houthi coup in September 2014, which amounted to about 167 thousand barrels. And 184 thousand barrels in 2013 , while the peak of Yemen's oil production was in 2002 , which reached 439 thousand barrels per day.
A significant deterioration in the level of oil production in Yemen during the past two decades, mainly due to the departure of foreign oil companies as a result of wars and conflicts, which the Houthi group started with the rebellion in Saada in 2004 , leading to its bombing in the provinces in 2015 .
This is confirmed by the head of the Oil Exploration and Production Authority, Eng. Khaled Bahmeish, in his testimony to a parliamentary committee formed last February to investigate the facts about what was raised about the sale of some oil sectors, saying that the peak of Yemen’s oil production came in the presence of foreign companies, and that the national companies which replaced it did not work on the development of production. Rather, it failed even to maintain the ceiling of production from the oil fields during the era of foreign companies.
Bahmish attributes the reasons for this failure to what the oil industry requires of very high financial capabilities, modern techniques and technology, in addition to a large capital that the local national companies do not possess. Citing what the Canadian "Calvalli" company in Shabwa did in terms of development, drilling and exploration work, which led to an increase in production compared to national companies.
The Canadian company "Calvali", along with the Austrian "OMV", are the two foreign companies that returned to work in Yemen after 2015. However, their survival has become doubtful following the attacks launched by the Houthi militia on oil export ports in October of last year, which forced production companies to stop working.
These attacks came to "make matters worse," as it is said, as these attacks came in light of the Austrian "OMV" company's intention to leave Yemen and try to sell the oil sector that it supervises in Shabwa to a company, and it was rejected by the government, while sources indicate that The Canadian company "Calvali" started thinking of leaving Yemen.
Returning to what the head of the Oil Exploration and Production Authority, Eng. Khaled Bahmeish, said in a statement to a parliamentary committee, the improvement in the level of production depends on the entry of foreign oil companies into Yemen to improve production from existing fields and introduce new ones, which seems impossible in light of the Houthi threats.
The repercussions and difficult situation that the oil sector in Yemen suffers from as a result of the war that was triggered by the Houthi group, and it will not stop with a peace agreement with the group. Dealing with the damage to this sector requires stability for a longer period of time, and before that real intentions of the group towards peace and not returning to igniting wars.
