Yemen’s oil exports dropped by about 33 percent in the first eight months of 2014 compared to the same period last year, underscoring the continued decline of the country’s oil sector amid wide political unrest.
Yemen exported 11.15 million barrels of crude oil in January to August, down from 16.61 million barrels in the same period last year, the central bank said in a report released on Monday.
Yemen has been dogged by turmoil since pro-democracy protests forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2012 after 33 years in power. Since then, the country has seen an uptick in attacks on oil export facilities, usually to pressure the government to release prisoners or to improve public services in the area.
The central bank report said oil revenues dropped to $1.21 billion in the first eight months of 2014 from $1.81 billion in the same period last year.
International Monetary Fund figures show that 63 percent of the government's revenues came from the hydrocarbons sector between 2010 and 2012, and that hydrocarbons accounted for 89 percent of the overall export revenues.
Yemen, as a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI, reported in July 2013 that government revenues from the oil and natural gas sector in 2011 were more than $5 billion.
Crude output dedicated to domestic consumption also declined to 13.59 million barrels in the first eight months of this year from 15.90 million barrels in the same period of 2013.
“The decline is due to sabotage attacks on the crude pipeline, which affect the supplies dedicated to domestic consumption and force the government to import large amounts of oil products to meet the rising demand,” the central bank said.
Yemen’s oil production has been declining in the last few years and the energy infrastructure continues to suffer frequent attacks. The country’s crude production was about 100,000 barrels per day in March 2014, according to the estimates of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
According to the Oil & Gas Journal, Yemen had proved reserves of oil totaling three billion barrels as of January 2014. Most of the country’s production is from the Marib-Jawf area in central Yemen and near the Masila area in the southeast.
By Abdelmoneim Haikal and Selen Tonkus
Anadolu Agency