Yemen’s Oil Exports Up 54% in First 9 Months, Consumption Drops

Source: Bloomberg, By Mohammed Hatem
28/12/2010

Yemen’s oil exports increased in value by 54 percent in the first nine months of the year while domestic consumption declined due to higher prices, the Saba news agency reported.

Oil exports for the year through September rose to $1.9 billion from $1.2 billion in the year-earlier period, the state- run news agency said today, citing figures from the Central Bank of Yemen.

Exported oil jumped to 24 million barrels in the first nine months, up from 21 million barrels in the period last year.

Domestic consumption of oil declined to 18 million barrels during the first nine months from 20 million barrels in the same period in 2009, the report said.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has asked for $44.5 billion in aid over the next five years from Western and Persian Gulf donors to jump-start its economy and combat the spread of terrorism, al-Arabiya television reported on Feb. 28.

The government expects oil reserves that fund 70 percent of the budget to diminish over the next decade.

Crude has more than doubled from a four-year low in December 2008 and is up 15 percent for the year to date, trading at more than $90 a barrel today.