Output stopped at Yemen's Masila oilfields in Hadramout

Reuters ^ | 1-19-2015 | Reuters

[tcrlaf]

(Updates with output from Shabwa field, Belhaf gas facility stopping)

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Oil companies in Yemen's Hadramout and Shabwa provinces, including the main gas export facility at Belhaf, have suspended operations amid protests over the seizure of a presidential aide by Shi'ite fighters who control the capital Sanaa, local officials said on Monday.

The Shi'ite Houthis seized President Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi's chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, a native of the southern Shabwa province, on Saturday amid a dispute over a proposed new constitution that threatens to bring down the government.

"Several oil firms with small production capacities have shutdown their operations in protest of the kidnapping," a local official in Shabwa told Reuters.

Another official said all oil companies in Shabwa had suspended work as part of an understanding with the local tribesmen, who have been angered by bin Mubarak's seizure.

[tcrlaf]

The attempted Shia coup by the "Houthi" (Youth Movement) is starting to have real effects.

Meanwhile, we are preparing to evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Yemen "On a moment's notice"(USAToday)

[vpintheak]

Let the next ride in oil prices due to “fears” begin!

[thackney]

I helped design and build these back in the early 1990s.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=15.59198,49.13768&spn=0.038071,0.049181&t=h&z=15

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=14.69826,49.48975&spn=0.038232,0.049181&t=h&z=15

I spent 5 years living in Yemen back in ‘93 and early ‘94.

[cripplecreek]

Not much news about it here but BBC world news has been covering Yemen.

[thackney]

Yemen state news agency and TV station seized by Shia Houthi rebels
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/19/yemen-state-news-agency-tv-station-seized-by-shia-rebels

Security in Sana’a continues to unravel with street battles and rebels besieging presidential palace, as fears of coup grow

Security in the capital, Sana’a, was unravelling on Monday, with the rebels, known as Houthis, besieging the presidential palace, all foreign embassies closed and the president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, pushing unsuccessfully for a ceasefire.

The violence is the worst to have rocked Sana’a since the Houthis took over the Yemeni capital in September, and poses a serious threat to Hadi’s authority. The spasm appears rooted in the Houthis rejection of a draft constitution that divides Yemen into six regions....

A convoy carrying Yemen’s prime minister was shot at as it left the presidential palace on Monday, and Hadi’s chief of staff was abducted by Houthis over the weekend....

[thackney]

[null and void]

Eat sand, maggots!

[Zhang Fei]

Is Yemen’s production decline related to resource nationalism (i.e. an unwillingness to share the fruits of oil strikes with foreign oil companies), thereby causing foreign oil companies to avoid signing E&P deals?

[thackney]

I would say it mostly because companies find it an expensive place to explore due to the near constant civil unrest and the lack of infrastructure, combined with not finding a lot of oil when they have explored.

Little exploration and little success when exploring results in little oil. There are better places for companies to invest, so they invest elsewhere.

Yemen offered reasonable competitive deals when I was there 20 years ago. I don’t know how it has changed since then.

The lack of anything in ways of infrastructure is overwhelming. We were 60 miles from the nearest paved road and we joked we were 100 miles from the nearest flush toilet.