Economic Analyst: Resuming Oil Exports Could Pave the Way for Securing Bab Al-Mandeb and Restoring Revenues
Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
Economic analyst and journalist Mohammed Al-Jumai said that the Yemeni government’s success in resuming oil exports and securing export vessels in eastern ports, in coordination with the coalition, would enhance its ability to protect navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Al-Jumai added, in a post on Facebook, that it would be a mistake to consider the decision to resume oil exports as merely a “reaction,” pointing out that export operations are preceded by arrangements and agreements with companies, which base their decisions on assessments of risk and safety levels.
He explained that any step toward resuming exports, even amid security challenges, means — from his point of view — that the government and the coalition have prepared for this file in a studied manner.
Al-Jumai also questioned the reasons for the suspension of liquefied natural gas exports for 11 years, considering that this file is no less important than the resumption of oil exports, and called for clarifying the reasons for the continued halt.
The economic analyst linked the recent meeting of the Supreme Defense Council to its meeting in 2022, which followed threats by the Houthi group and its bombing of ports and oil export vessels in the governorates of Shabwa and Hadramawt, during which the government classified the group as a “terrorist organization.”
He opined that the scene has not changed since then, with the Houthis — according to his expression — continuing to not abide by any understandings, and with what he described as the continued Iranian role in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb.
Al-Jumai stressed that Yemen loses nearly two billion dollars annually from oil export revenues, in addition to similar losses from the halt of liquefied natural gas exports, urging urgent steps to end the crisis and restore economic resources.
