Shabwa: Promising Oil Sector Shared by Fake Companies and Vague Partners

Abdulhaq added: "Likewise, Sector S1 suffered from corruption and was sold in 2020 to a company called Bestik. There are attempts today to sell Sector S2 in Al-Aqla area to Spec".

He added: "These attempts have not yet succeeded due to the dispute among oil influential figures. This led to thwarting the selling deals between the government and some companies. This previously pushed President Hadi [1] to intervene to shift the sector to Petromasila which has so far failed to operate it."

Abdulhaq noted that Sector 5 (Jannah Hunt) was subjected to corruption and was sold by "Hunt" to "Kuwait Energy" in 2013, then to the Chinese "Wilt Cat" [before being handed over to vague partners].

Mahmoud Saeed told “South24" that he blames the Yemeni government and the Oil Ministry for what he called "the corruption of international companies".

He believes that the "deliberate alienation of the role of the General Authority for Oil Explorations by the government and the Oil Ministry in particular made us unaware of all important details about these international companies as well as their impact and role. This is absolute and obvious corruption".

Saeed believes that "the expansion of corruption in Shabwa's oil file is due to the interference in the powers of the General Authority for Oil Explorations". He indicated that "most corruption cases which were revealed came after some oil international companies decided to leave the sectors in which they invested. Instead the ownership of these sectors return to the Public Authority for Oil Explorations, local subcontractor companies are established".

He said: "Unfortunately, the oil sales revenues of these companies don't go to the Finance Ministry or the Central Bank or the State's coffers but they are affiliated with former Presidential figures".

Saeed listed some companies that don't transfer their shares to the state's coffers including "Canadian Nexen" whose shares moved to "Petromasila". The list includes "Hunt" whose shares moved to "Safer". Moreover, there are many companies which were incorporated into the ownership of Petromasila similar to what happened in the Masila Sector in Hadramout, in which Total was investing.

In a previous report in 2005, the Central Organization for Control and accounting recommended the need to reconsider the work systems and the procedures regarding supervising and oversight on the activities of the oil companies in the country between the Ministry of Oil and Minerals and the General Authority for Oil Explorations.

Expert Mohammed Salim Majour accused the Yemeni Oil Ministry of orchestrating a corrupt deal through which the work will resume soon in Sector 5 by Petromasila which is not specialized in operating such sectors.

He told "South24" that "oil sector revenues are limited to some figures and at the top level of the state". He added: "The ties between the oil sector and the highest level of the state constitutes one of the biggest corruption hotbeds that deplete the country’s resources".

According to experts, "the Force Majeure Law [2] which allows international oil companies to stop their activities in the sectors in case of war or natural disasters is a legal loophole exploited by these companies to delay productive sectors for years without operating the sector or giving up the shares of these companies to other production companies".

Majour said: "A number of sectors stopped due to the conditions which swept the country. They have not resumed although the conditions calmed down. The Austrian company OMV resumed its activities in 2018 but it didn't develop the oilfields in which it works and didn't activate the oil wells".

He added that "the company's production decreased to the level of 4000 barrels a day". He claimed that "Sector 4 also works but the company destroyed the oilfields by its neglect. The production reached the level of only 100 barrels a day".

OMV, the operator of Sector "S2-Al-Aqla" announced its "intention to start the process of selling its assets and gradual withdrawal from Yemen, according to the international oil website B&S Global".

The company is expected to hand its assets over to a new company called "Spec" which is not known in the oil sector and its identity is not yet clear.

Exclusive sources told "South24 '' that the Yemeni Oil Ministry agreed to hand over Sector 5-Jannah Hunt to a vague company called "Noor Yemen'' in addition to Petromasila by instructions from the minister''. According to the sources" the selection of Petromasila to operate the sector aims at covering the role of the fake companies like "Noor Yemen" in favor of unknown figures and partners".

The sources said: "This move came as a result of the ties between the family of former President Hadi and the Petromasila's GM Mohammed Bin Samit".

The sources claim that Petromasila and Yemeni Oil Minister push for selling oil from Sector 5 in favor of vague partners who control the sector.

The sources told "South24" that "Noor Yemen is a subcontractor company which violates the Presidential Law issued in 2012 regarding the establishment and organizing the Yemeni Council for Transparency in the Extractive Industries as well as [3] the agreement with the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority and the Transparency Coalition for Extractive Industries which forbid subcontract activities [4]."

"South24" conducted extensive research about the alleged company "Noor Yemen" and we didn't find any data for it on the internet or an official address or any official deals in the local markets or anything that denotes its relationship with the oil sector.

However, trade union sources exclusively told "South24" that the company is one of the subcontractor companies amid strong reservations about the information that belongs to this company or the entity that works for it, and whether this company provides its money to the Central Bank or its revenues benefit governmental or private figures.

However, a report issued by a Qatari website On Saturday quoted an official in the Oil Ministry saying that "the ministry restored Sector5-Jannah Hunt in Shabwa's Usaylan and thwarted attempts to hand it over to an unknown company".

In November, the Ministry of oil itself announced that Petromasila received Sector 5 (Janna Hunt) from the Contractor Group which operated the Sector in the presence of the Minister of Oil and Minerals Abdul Salam Baaboud.

According to the official agency "Saba", the production in Sector 5 stopped years ago. Some foreign companies affiliated with the Contractor Group exploited that period to create institutional chaos in the ownership of shares. This necessitated the intervention of the Ministry of Oil to work on resuming the production process.

"South24" contacted the Yemeni Prime Ministry to comment on the accusations included in the report. A letter which included all these accusations was officially sent to the Prime Minister's secretary but we have not received a response till the time of publication of this report.

Moreover, "South24" received promises from the Director of the Office of the Ministry of Oil to coordinate a meeting with the Deputy Minister. However, after procrastinating for more than three weeks, those promises have not been achieved.