A significant rise in global oil prices raises the question about its revenues in Yemen
English - Saturday 05 March 2022 الساعة 02:42 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
Oil prices in global markets have witnessed huge jumps during the past days and reached record levels not seen in years, against the backdrop of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine.
On Thursday, February 24, the price of a barrel of oil crossed the $100 threshold for the first time in more than seven years, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a "military operation" in Ukraine.
A week after that, specifically last Thursday, the global benchmark Brent crude prices jumped to levels near $120 a barrel, due to the impact of new US sanctions on Russian refiners, as Brent crude futures prices rose to $119.84 a barrel, the highest level since May 2012, according to "The New York Times." Reuters".
Russia is the third largest oil producer in the world after the United States and Saudi Arabia, and it usually exports about 7.5 million barrels per day of crude oil, amid warnings from economic observers that the price of a barrel of oil could reach $170.
This big jump in oil prices globally raises the question about the volume of its export revenues in Yemen, in light of the refusal of the legitimate government to officially disclose the volume of daily oil production and the volume of revenues, and insists on the claim that production is still limited.
In a previous television interview, Prime Minister Maeen Abdul-Malik indicated that daily production ranges between 60-70 thousand barrels only, but a recent report issued by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) indicated a higher number.
According to the organization’s annual report for the year 2021, in which it indicated that Yemen’s oil production reached 95 thousand barrels per day during the years: 2020 - 2019 - 2018, while it was up to 71 thousand barrels per day in 2017, which is the figure presented by the Prime Minister.
While the government does not officially disclose oil export revenues, the report issued by the Central Bank last September, which was published on its official website, indicated that the revenues amounted to about 330 billion riyals in 2020, which witnessed a significant drop in oil prices globally due to the Corona pandemic, and reached The average price of a barrel is about $40.
The bank’s report expected that revenues would reach 888 billion riyals during 2021, due to the improvement in global oil prices at the beginning of the year, with the price of a barrel reaching about $50, and it concluded at the end of the year with a price exceeding $80.
Which raises a question about the volume of revenues during this year, which initially recorded an improvement in oil prices as a result of the world’s economies recovering from the effects of the Corona pandemic, as the price of a barrel stabilized between 80-90 dollars, so that the big jump came with the outbreak of war in Ukraine to exceed the $100 barrier.
