World Bank pessimistic for Yemen\'s oil depletion

Yemen\'s oil station Sanaa – Ali Rabea Yemen offered five new oil  blocks to international companies working in oil exploration and extraction mostly in Hadramout (eastern Yemen). According to the country,  these are promising attempts  for investments and that it is committed to provide all legal facilities and create the suitable investment environment for oil companies.
The newly appointed Yemeni Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmed Dares, announced that his ministry is offering five oil blocks for investment which are extended on the sedimentary basins in al-Sabaateen basin, the Sayoun-Masila basin, and the basin of Mukalla-Sayhoot which are all in Hadramout.
Dares said that the auction of these blocks come within the government’s orientation towards increasing the oil exploration operations and to encourage investments in the sector of oil and minerals, which is the resource on which Yemen depends in providing 70% of the total state public budget.
This sector was affected by the repeated vandalism acts since the beginning of 2011 after the unrest seen in Yemen due to the security gap which accompanied the popular protest that went out calling for the fall of the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Yemeni Minister invited international firms to take advantage of the offered investment opportunities, ensuring the commitment of the Yemeni Government to provide legal facilities and a suitable environment for the investments. He stressed that his ministry is keen on the increase of production and the petroleum reserves through exploring new oilfields which may have a good productivity of oil and gas.
According to government sources, Dares stressed on Sunday the importance of preserving the rate of oil production in his country, and attracting the largest number of international firms to invest in Yemen in the oil field.
Yemen is limited in producing oil, but the government believes that its country has promising oil reserves, and by investing in it would make a real difference for the local economy and improving the living standards. However in the World Bank’s previous report, there are low expectations that all oil wells in Yemen will be depleted by 2017.
The oil production in Yemen does not exceed the 300 thousand barrel per day limit through the productive fields of Hadramout, Marib and Shabwa (east and centre of the country) where the oil share is  between 30 % and 40% of the Gross Domestic Product. It is the most important support to the general public budget with the percentage of up to 70% in total revenues.