Political developments in Yemen have long had an impact on its oil, gas and water production, three essential commodities that have seesawed with the country's ups and downs.
The recent killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has brought back the problems facing these industries to the fore.
Saleh emerged as leader of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1978. The Marxist People’s Democratic Republic (South Yemen) was then a separate country. For many years, episodic oil exploration had led to no discoveries, in sharp contrast to Yemen’s Arabian Peninsula neighbours. But in 1984, Hunt Oil, a privately-owned US company, found oil in the Marib Basin.
The CIA’s initial assessment that Yemen could produce 200,000 barrels per day by the end of the 1980s proved quite accurate. Hunt partnered with Exxon and a consortium of South Korean companies, and built a pipeline running west to Ras Isa north of Hodeidah on the Red Sea.
The discovery was welcome for the US, bolstering a pro-western attitude in Sanaa against the Soviet-backed south, and providing a modest extra source of non-Opec oil.
In May 1990, with Soviet support for the south fading as the USSR collapsed, the two parts of Yemen unified under Saleh's leadership. In September of that year, Nexen, formerly Canadian Occidental, found oil in the Masila Basin located in the Shabwa province, in the neutral zone between the former North and South Yemen, establishing Yemen's second producing area. A brief civil war in 1994 saw Saleh reassert control over the south after it had attempted to secede under his former deputy Ali Salim Al Beidh.
Yemen’s oil experience was not the same as its neighbours’. With very different geology, and much smaller fields even than Oman’s, it found oil later. Most of its production came during the 1990s when prices were low, and its relatively large population meant that oil earnings per person were small.
Nevertheless, production rose sharply on the back of the Hunt, Nexen and other companies' discoveries, reaching a peak of 457,000 barrels per day in 2002, about half of Oman's level. From there on, despite some ingenious new exploration campaigns, it declined to 306,000 barrels per day in 2010, the last year before the revolution that initially toppled Saleh. High oil prices actually kept export revenues rising for a while after 2002, but they fell from roughly US$6.6 billion in 2008 to $4.6bn in 2010.
Aware that oil resources would dry up, the Yemeni government had begun engaging Hunt, Total and partners in 1995 to build a liquefied natural gas export plant. Yemen LNG finally came into operation in 2009, a remarkable landmark investment of $4bn for a poor and unstable country. But although the plant at Balhaf on the southern coast initially operated well, it ran into trouble with repeated bombings of the pipeline bringing its gas from the inland fields.
Earnings from LNG were, in any case, not enough to make up for the decline in oil. Even after Saleh's ousting in 2011 and the 2013 plan for a federal system, there was uncertainty regarding the distribution of natural resources, particularly oil and gas. And even without revolution and civil war, Yemen was heading for a near-insoluble water crisis because of qat.
Until the early 1970s, qat chewing was largely a pastime of a wealthy urban elite, but the development of roads following the influx of oil remittances from Yemeni migrant workers allowed it to be brought fresh, in quantity, from previously remote villages.
Qat is a lucrative crop, but a water-hungry one – more than coffee, an alternative for farmers. Even before the conflict, irrigation was wasteful and dams were not maintained properly. Wells in Sanaa now go down as much as 1000 metres, with the water table drying up. Diesel has long been subsidised, making it cheap to run pumps, but the conflict has now interrupted supplies. Black-market diesel prices have now reached $5 per litre (compared to the official UAE price of $0.60 per litre).
Oil production continues at reduced levels in relatively peaceful Marib, and may even have recovered a bit this year to around 40,000 barrels per day. After repairs to its pipeline, there are sporadic rumours of restarting the LNG plant.
But the industry is still a shadow of its past self. The Houthis may have eliminated Saleh, but the areas they control lack both the oil and water which have been critical to the country's economy.
Robin M. Mills is CEO of Qamar Energy, and author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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Torque: 1075Nm
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Top 10 most polluted cities
- Bhiwadi, India
- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Noida, India
- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Company%20Profile
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Company%20profile
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%E2%80%98FSO%20Safer%E2%80%99%20-%20a%20ticking%20bomb
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
