Talks were held in Sweden this week between representatives from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Houthi rebels. These touched on several issues including the ongoing famine, the battle for control of the port of Hodeidah, a massive prisoner swap, and “restarting” oil and gas exports. In fact Yemen is already exporting around 50,000 b/d: some 35-40,000 b/d from PetroMasila-operated Blocks 10 & 14 in the eastern Masila basin (MEES, 15 September 2017) and 10,000-12,000 b/d from OMV’s S2 Block in the central Shabwa basin (MEES, 3 August).
The biggest potential restart would be $4.5bn Total-led Yemen LNG project. But questions remain surrounding the condition of the gas pipeline from Block 18, which supplies the plant. De-mothballing the 6.7mn t/y plant at Balhaf could prove a potentially a costly gamble. (CONTINUED - 127 WORDS)