Apr 23 2012 |
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Yemen Looking To China For Further Oil Sector Investment
Yemen Looking To China For Further Oil Sector Investment
In a bid to kick-start its flagging oil and gas sector, Yemen has held preliminary discussions with China on means by which to attract more Chinese investment, Yemen’s SABA news agency said last week. “Yemen is looking forward to more Chinese oil and gas companies investing in its onshore and offshore blocks [as it is] in the best interest of the two countries,” Yemen’s Minister of Oil and Minerals Hisham Sharaf 'Abd Allah was quoted as saying, following a meeting with China’s ambassador to Yemen Liu Denglin.
Chinese involvement in Yemen’s oil and gas sector is currently limited to state-controlled oil firms Sinopec and Sinochem, which together produce a total of approximately 20,000 b/d of crude. This represents around 15% of Yemen’s current production of 130,000 b/d, which has declined from the 220,000-250,000 b/d seen in February 2011, before the political unrest sparked by the Arab Spring (MEES , 19 March).
The World Bank meanwhile has warned that the Arab world’s poorest country is fast running out of proven oil reserves, saying it believes Yemen’s fields could be depleted in as little as 10 years’ time. “Yemen has 10-12 years of oil reserves at the current rate of extraction,” analysts at the World Bank said, referring to the country’s pre-unrest production level of around 250,000 b/d. Today, Yemen only produces oil from two areas – the Masila Basin in the east, and the Marib-Shabwa Basin in the west – which comprise only 15% of the country’s area. This, the World Bank notes, leaves vast areas which have yet to be surveyed, in which further resources could exist.
© Copyright MEES 2012.
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