180 billion riyals, total oil and gas revenues looted by mercenaries in just one month
At a time when the Yemeni people are living in difficult economic conditions, as a result of aggression, blockade, and economic war, which have put them in the face of the worst humanitarian famine in the world, according to the United Nations classification, the mercenary government, and the US-Saudi aggression, insists on continuing to cut the salaries of state employees and retirees and to compound the suffering of Yemeni citizens further.
At the same time, the mercenary government continues to loot oil and gas revenues which have been the mainstay of the Yemeni economy for decades, covering 80% of the state’s general budget to accounts and balances outside the country.
A source confirmed that in the context of the looting of crude oil and gas revenues by mercenaries during the month of May, the total value of what was sold amounted to about 180 billion riyals, which is enough to pay the salaries of the state employees for about three months.
He pointed out that mercenaries continue to plunder crude oil, by selling millions of barrels by giant ships that come almost monthly to the ports of AShihr, Al-Nashima, Bir Ali, and others, as shown by international traffic monitoring sites, where the Chinese carrier “Apolytares” arrived at the port of AShihr last May and loaded more than 2 million barrels, worth more than $270 million, equivalent to 162 billion Yemeni riyals.
A source in the Ministry of Oil and Minerals of the National Rescue Government, in a statement, indicated that the aggression and its mercenaries export at least one shipment of this type a monthly, as the Chinese tanker itself docked on April 10th in the port of AShihr, and loaded 2.3 million barrels of crude oil.
At the time, the source expressed the ministry’s strong condemnation of the continued aggression and its mercenaries in plundering oil revenues, estimated at hundreds of billions per month, at a time when it deliberately cuts the salaries of state employees and invests in the suffering of the Yemeni people, calling on the Yemeni people to raise their voices and demand the restoration of their rights and prevent their looting.
The source also called on the United Nations and the international community to stop the systematic looting of oil and gas wealth by the U.S.-Saudi aggression and its mercenaries.
With regard to the looting of domestic gas revenues, from which 75 trailers are sold daily, according to the mercenary government in Marib, the total sale of domestic gas in May alone reached 2,325 trailers, containing 4.8 million cylinders, and a value of 3,568 riyals per cylinder, which means that the revenues of domestic gas received by the mercenaries of aggression last May amounted to 17.2 billion riyals.
This seven-year looting has been going on in public, with the mercenary government acknowledging that revenues from the sale of crude oil increased by 100 percent in 2021 to more than $1.4 billion, compared to $710.5 million in 2020. According to mercenaries, the total value of crude oil sold in 2020-2021 was more than $2.2 billion, equivalent to 1.3 trillion riyals, covering the payment of salaries to state employees for 18 months.
It should be noted that the figures approved by the mercenary government for crude oil sales, although large, do not reflect the reality and the actual quantities they have sold, which means that the revenue sought by the mercenary government is much higher than announced.
Therefore, all proceeds from the sale of crude oil and domestic gas are not only looted by the Mercenary Government, but continue to plunder billions of dollars in the land, sea, and airport revenues, oil derivatives and fisheries, customs and tax revenues, and of service revenue institutions tributaries and others.
This comes at a time when the salaries of state employees have been cut for nearly six years, following the transfer of central bank jobs to Aden in September 2016 and the seizure of all revenues by mercenaries.