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U.S. Fears Chaos as Government of Yemen Falls

SANA, Yemen — The American-backed government of Yemen abruptly collapsed Thursday night, leaving the country leaderless as it is convulsed by an increasingly powerful force of pro-Iran rebels and a resurgent Qaeda. The resignation of the president, prime minister and cabinet took American officials by surprise and heightened the risks that Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, would become even more of a breeding ground for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has claimed responsibility for audacious anti-Western attacks — including the deadly assault on Charlie Hebdo in Paris this month. The resignation of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi brought full circle Yemen’s Arab Spring revolution, which ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 amid massive popular protests. Now Mr. Saleh, who has lately made himself an unlikely ally of the Houthi rebels who toppled the government, is poised to return to the forefront of Yemeni politics. […]

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Cnooc Unit Suspends Oil Production in Yemen Citing Security Threat

ENLARGE The CNOOC Ltd. logo is displayed on an employee’s uniform. The company’s Canadian unit said Sunday it has halted oil production in Yemen due to an unspecified “security threat”. Bloomberg News CALGARY—The Canadian unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp., or Cnooc, said Sunday it has halted oil production in Yemen due to an unspecified “security threat” to its personnel in the Arabian country. The shutdown affects the Yemeni assets of Cnooc’s Canadian subsidiary Nexen ULC, which operates a crude oil field and processing facility in the country. It comes after the pro-U.S. government of Yemen collapsed in September amid a civil war. “We’ve determined there is a security threat and undue risk” in Yemen, said a spokesperson for the Calgary-based Cnooc subsidiary. “The shutdown was progressed in a timely manner, production has ceased and our personnel have safely departed,” she said. The Yemeni oil ministry wasn’t immediately […]

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Yemen’s Looming Water Crisis

Summary Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of an occasional series on water scarcity issues around the world that Stratfor will be building upon periodically. For all that is said about water scarcity, the term is somewhat misused. Oftentimes, water becomes more difficult to access or becomes more expensive; on a countrywide scale, it remains available in most cases. But some countries are actually running out of water. Yemen is one such country. A strong central government can find solutions and adapt to slow the decline of resources. But because Yemen’s weak central government cannot ensure domestic instability, the country shows little potential of being able to resolve or even mitigate its water scarcity problems in the near term, leading hydrologists to predict that it could run out of water within the decade. While there are several countries that withdraw more water than is available, their situations are […]

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Yemen rebel movement in charge of oil ministry

Houthi movement in Yemen gets control over Oil Ministry as government in Sana’a charts new course. UPI/Mohammad Abdullah Members of the Houthi movement are handed control over the Yemeni oil ministry under a new government, the prime minister announced. Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah unveiled his new government Saturday, allocating control over the Oil Ministry to the Houthi movement. The government in Sana’a was under dueling threats from the northern Houthi movement, a Shiite group, and southern separatist groups that at times have been associated with al-Qaida. Western leaders had expressed concerns about rebel activity in Yemen. An August letter signed by U.S., European, Asian and Middle Eastern envoys to Yemen said the Houthi movement had a place in Sana’a, but expressing concerns about the group’s disrespect for political transition that began with the so-called Arab Spring in 2011. In mid-October, Norwegian energy company DNO International declared force majeure […]

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IMF: Oil attacks hurting Yemen’s economy

The IMF said it approved a $552.9 million credit to Yemen to help the country maintain a level of economic stability. The amount is available in semi-annual disbursements, though the IMF’s executive board said $73.8 million was unleashed immediately. Yemen has struggled to sustain a level of political stability and national security since the Arab Spring in 2011 led to the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh . The current administration of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is under pressure from the Houthi movement, a Shiite militia. Naoyuki Shinohara, acting chairman of the IMF board, said national security challenges are in the way of Yemen’s economic growth . "In particular, fiscal and external balances have weakened due to delays in key reforms and increased sabotage of oil facilities," he said in a statement Tuesday. The Yemeni government has said militants have tried to use attacks on oil infrastructure […]

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Armed men blow up Yemen's oil pipeline halting crude flows

Armed men blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline on Wednesday, a local official said, halting crude flows and disrupting an important source of revenue for the impoverished state. Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by insurgents or tribesmen since anti-government protests led to a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings. Earlier on Wednesday, Yemen raised fuel prices in an attempt to ease the burden of energy subsidies on its state finances. Sanaa earned just $671 million from exporting crude oil in January-May, down nearly 40 percent from a year earlier, as a result of the frequent bombings. The latest attack happened in the Wady Obaida area of the central oil-producing province of Maarib, halting the flow of crude to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, the local official said. The Maarib pipeline carries around […]

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Armed men blow up Yemen’s oil pipeline halting crude flows

Armed men blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline on Wednesday, a local official said, halting crude flows and disrupting an important source of revenue for the impoverished state. Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by insurgents or tribesmen since anti-government protests led to a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings. Earlier on Wednesday, Yemen raised fuel prices in an attempt to ease the burden of energy subsidies on its state finances. Sanaa earned just $671 million from exporting crude oil in January-May, down nearly 40 percent from a year earlier, as a result of the frequent bombings. The latest attack happened in the Wady Obaida area of the central oil-producing province of Maarib, halting the flow of crude to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, the local official said. The Maarib pipeline carries around […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Yemeni oil pipeline attacked

| License Photo The Yemeni Oil Ministry said restive tribesmen in Marib province attacked an oil pipeline, cutting exports to a Red Sea terminal. Yemen relies heavily on oil revenue to support its economy. Tribesmen in an area thought to be under the influence of al-Qaida fighters targeted the 100,000-barrel-per-day pipeline to the Ras Isa export terminal Saturday, the oil ministry confirmed . Yemen since the so-called Arab Spring in 2011 has struggled to maintain a sense of national security. It’s faced pressure from Shiite rebels in the north of the country and from the presence of al-Qaida, a predominately Sunni group, elsewhere. The Yemeni government has said militants have tried to use attacks on oil infrastructure as a way to bargain for more revenue sharing. Norwegian energy company DNO International said last week it resumed oil production from Yemen, ending a two-week hiatus. The company suspended operations there […]

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Post peak countries: the collapse of Yemen

  Image from " Our Finite World " When I saw for the first time the data about oil production in Yemen, I was so impressed that I wanted to know more. I found a news source in English – the " Yemen Times " and I placed the link in my feed. For several months, by now, I have been reading the news from a place where I have never been and, probably, will never go, but that I find incredibly fascinating. The stories in the Yemen Times read as a tragedy written by Shakespeare: for a taste of this feeling, you may read the article titled " Carrying out a death sentence ," but it is just an example of a never ending series of disasters taking place in the country, which include some 4000 people murdered every year, including a few  taken as target by American […]

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Yemen: 7 killed in attack on prison, 29 escape

Heavily armed militants attacked Yemen’s main prison in central Sanaa on Thursday, killing seven people and helping 29 inmates escape, many of them convicts in terrorism-related charges, the country’s state news agency reported. The attack started with a car bomb explosion, then militants exchanged heavy gunfire with the guards at the Sanaa Central Prison, and a number of prisoners fled amid the chaos, according to SABA. A security official said authorities suspect it was an inside job. Among the 29 who fled, 19 are convicted al-Qiada prisoners including those plotting the assassinations of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and western diplomats, the official said. He said those killed in the exchange of gunfire were mostly security forces. Witnesses said earlier that explosions rocked the capital and smoke billowed into the sky. Security forces and army troops have been deployed to the site […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple