Yemen stops oil field investment due to oil price crash

Kolkata, April 26 (IANS) War-hit Yemen has stopped investments in its oil fields after oil prices crashed, said a Yemeni diplomat on Tuesday.

"Our government has stopped investments in oil fields after crashing of oil prices and is paying salaries of workers only," said Tariq Izzaldeen Hassan Al-Mouthen, first secretary of Yemen embassy to India on the sidelines of an seminar on India-Gulf Business Exchange, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Our economy is hit badly due to oil price crash. About 70 percent of Yemens' economy is based on oil.

"We produce about 0.2 million barrel of oil every day and cost of production is $10 a barrel," he said.

Yemen is not a part of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The World Bank said the crude oil market rebounded from a low of $25 per barrel in mid-January to $40 per barrel in April following production disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria and a decline in non-OPEC production, mainly US shale. A proposed production freeze by major producers failed to materialise at a meeting in mid-April.