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?
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.