Exclusive: Bank of Aden info on oil, gas revenues not true - Minister

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Deputy Minister of Oil in the Sanaa government, Yasser Al-Wahidi, denied on Sunday the validity of the information reported by Reuters about the Bank of Aden's report on oil and gas revenues during the first semester, stressing that the figures provided by the aggression forces on Yemeni oil revenues, which surpassed 2 billion dollars, are misleading.

The source emphasized in an interview for Al Mayadeen that the report, which showed that the revenues from crude oil and gas exports amounted to $739.3 million from January to June, is misleading and untrue, adding that the aim of its publication is to obscure the truth.

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The Minister added that the revenue sector of the mercenaries-affiliated Ministry of Finance in the city of Aden does not receive any data on the volume of actual exports of crude oil, nor the number of its revenues.

Al-Wahidi pointed out that the revenues are submitted to the National Bank of Saudi Arabia and the forces of aggression don't reveal any data about the exportation process, which is controlled by a sub-committee headed by Saudi Ambassador Al Jaber and Maeen Abdul Malik.

He also noted that there is no data provided on the Ministry of Oil website showing the number of bids conducted to sell Yemeni crude oil.

In numbers 

In addition, the source confirmed that the production at the beginning of the year reached 2,614,200 barrels per month, explaining that the volume of exports of Yemeni crude oil from January to June this year was 18,299,400 barrels, while the domestic gas production from January to August this year reached 300 and 37 thousand metric tons.

The revenues of exported oil and gas sold during the period from January to June amounted to 1 trillion and 200 billion riyals, or more than 2 billion dollars, according to the same source.

Al-Wahidi pointed out that the average monthly average of crude oil amounted to 2,614,200 barrels per month, the proceeds of which are plundered by the coalition of aggression and deposited in an account in the National Bank of Saudi Arabia, knowing that these revenues can cover the employee' salaries for a year and a half.

The wealth of the Yemeni people is undergoing systematic looting and the "looted wealth is being used to pay the bills of the weapons purchased to bomb our [Yemeni] people," the source said. 

The source detailed the percentage of looting Yemeni oil, saying that what was looted in 2018 exceeded 18 million and 80 thousand barrels at an average price of $72 per barrel, and at a value of one billion and 301 million dollars.

He added that what was looted in 2019 amounted to more than 29 million and 692 thousand barrels, with a value of $2 billion and $300 million at an average price of $77 a barrel. In 2021, 31,627,000 barrels were looted with a value of $2.24 billion and 149 thousand dollars at an average price of $49 a barrel.

This comes at a time when the Yemeni Oil Company in Sanaa accused the Saudi coalition of seizing a new oil derivatives ship loaded with diesel, despite being inspected and having obtained a permit from the United Nations.