Yemen aims to renegotiate its gas export contracts

Yemen\'s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi Sanaa – Ali Rabea Yemen\'s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has ordered Minister of Oil Ahmed Dares to adjust the trading price of exported liquefied gas to bring it line with international market prices. Yemen signed three long-term contracts with GDF Suez, Cogas and Total Gas for the export of liquefied gas in 2009. Under the deal, Yemen is under obligation to export 6.7 million metric tonnes of gas a year.
According to state news agency SABA, President Hadi held a meeting with Dares in Sanaa on Saturday and told him that the state had suffered economically due to its low gas prices, compared to the international market.?
The president urged the minister to open to doors to potential investors who would operate Yemeni oil fields. It is believes Yemen has 10 trillion ?cubic feet of Liquefied gas in reserve from Marib oil fields, with the further gas expected to be extracted from other parts of the country.?
The gas is exported through Belhaf port on the Arabian Sea in Shabwa, south east Yemen. This project, the second of its kind in the region, is being led by French ?company Total, in partnership with US firm ?Hunt, Korean group SK, Korea\'s Cogas and Hyundai and the Yemeni gas company.
Seventy percent of Yemen\'s public budget relies on revenue from oil and gas. The country exports ?about 300 million bpd (barrels per day) from Marib and Hadhramaut oil fields. In the last few years, the quantity of oil being exported has significantly decreased due to repeated sabotage ?attacks by tribal gunmen on export pipelines.