Yemen oil minister warns foreign firms against looting energy resources

The minister of oil and minerals in Yemen’s National Salvation Government has warned foreign companies against plundering energy resources of the war-wracked Arab country, stressing that Sana’a will spare no effort to defend national sovereignty and safeguard public interests and wealth.

Ahmed Dares called on multinational oil and gas companies to enter into negotiations with the Sana’a government before taking any actions to explore and extract crude oil and natural gas in Yemen and cautioned of adverse consequences in case the warning is not taken into serious consideration.

“Sana'a will not remain idle in the face of any escalation of tensions by the Saudi-led coalition of aggression in the economic field,” the Yemeni oil minister noted.

In late October, Yemen's National Salvation Government issued a warning after targeting a cargo ship off an oil terminal in the war-wrecked country's south to prevent Saudi-backed forces from using it for oil exports.

In a statement, Yemen's Foreign Ministry also denounced the UN Security Council's reaction to the "warning strike" at the al-Dubba terminal, where a Greek oil tanker was docked to load oil. The statement came after the council denounced the strike as a serious threat to the peace process and stability of Yemen.

The ministry stressed that Yemen will not hesitate to defend national sovereignty, and safeguard public interests and wealth against any act of looting or abuse.

MG