NATURAL GAS:
With natural gas reserves of 16.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), Yemen has considerable potential as a natural gas producer and exporter. The bulk of Yemen's gas reserves are concentrated in the Marib-Jawf fields, operated by the Yemen Exploration and Production Company (YEPC).
In early 1996, France's Total (now TotalFina) and Yemen's General Gas Corporation set up Yemen Liquefied Natural Gas Company (Yemen LNG) to operate a $5-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
The venture, Yemen's largest single energy project, is to develop natural gas from the Marib-Jawf and Jannah fields, and transport it via pipeline to a natural gas processing plant and export terminal in Bal Haf on the coast of southern Yemen. The LNG would supply the planned Trombay LNG terminal in Bombay, India. The Yemeni LNG plant is to have an export capacity of 0.26 Tcf per year. The consortium making up Yemen LNG consists of TotalFina, Yemen Gas, Hunt Oil, Exxon, and Yukong.
Start up of the project was originally scheduled for 2000 or 2001, but weak demand for LNG due to the Asian economic crisis has delayed the start of the project. The planned completion date is now 2003.
In May 1998, Yemen LNG and British Gas International signed an memorandum of understanding setting up the framework for future talks about supplying Yemeni LNG to British Gas' Pipavav LNG import terminal in Gujarat state, India. The deal calls for the potential sale of roughly half of Yemen LNG's production over a period of 25 years beginning in 2003. However, a final agreement has not been reached.
ELECTRICITY:
Yemen generated 2.2 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 1998 on installed capacity of 810 megawatts (MW). Most of this capacity is oil-fired, with the rest fueled by natural gas. Yemen's two largest power plants are the 165-MW power station as Ras Kanatib, near Hodeidah, and by the 160-MW Mukha station.
Yemen's generating capacity is inadequate for the country's needs, and a rolling blackout schedule is maintained in many cities. Government plans for the power sector call for privatizing all generators having a capacity of less than 5 MW and selling generators of 5 MW-20 MW through public offerings.
Yemen continues to face serious power shortages, and has announced plans to reform the country's power sector, and to double power generating capacity. Yemen also has said that it plans to invite offers on the country's first private power station.
In recent years, Yemen has started on some modest projects to expand and improve its power sector. On July 8, 1997, Yemen's Public Electricity Corporation (PEC) completed work on linking the southern and northern electricity grids. The grid linkage was funded by the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, which provided $54 million of the $64 million required for the project.
Yemen is undertaking a World Bank-funded upgrade of the Dhaban power plant to 50-MW total capacity. A letter of intent has been signed with Italy's Ansaldo Energia for the upgrade. The project plans call for construction of a new plant next to existing facilities with six, 5-MW, diesel-fired generators and replacing the motor-shafts on two of the plant's four, 6-MW, diesel generators.
The Mukalla power project involved the construction of a 40-MW diesel-fired plant, six substations, and the laying of 62 miles of transmission lines. Wartsila NSD Corporation, the Dutch branch of Finland's Wartsila Diesel, started work on the plant in mid-1997 and construction was completed in 1998.
Wartsila is currently working on the Aden power project, which involves building a 30-MW plant to serve the city's port. The new plant is part of the redevelopment of Aden, which was heavily damaged in the 1994 civil war. The company won the construction contract in late 1997 from Yemen Investment and Development International, the consortium leading the redevelopment of Aden port.
In August 1999, Yemen's Electricity Ministry commissioned a German firm, Lahmeyer International, to examine proposals submitted from several companies regarding the possibility of building and operating a 500-MW natural gas-fired power plant at Safar. The plant would be located near oil and gas fields operated by Yemen Hunt Oil Company, and could be commissioned as early as 2003. Yemen also may push ahead with private construction of a 500-MW power plant near Marib, although not likely in 2000.
Annex:
COUNTRY OVERVIEW:
Head of Government: President Ali Abdallah Saleh (reelected in September 1999)
Independence: May 22, 1990 (reunification)
Population (1999E): 16.9 million
Location/Size: Southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula/527,790 sq. kilometers (203,730 sq. miles); approximately the size of Wyoming and Colorado
Major Cities: Sanaa (capital), Aden, Al Hudaydah, Taizz
Language: Arabic
Defense (8/97): Army (37,000), Navy (1,500), Air Force (3,500), Paramilitary Forces (50,000)
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
Currency: Yemeni Rial (YRI) US$1 = YR148 (as of the first quarter 1999)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - purchasing power parity exchange rate (1998E): $12.1 billion
Real GDP Growth Rate (1999E): 2.0 percent (2000E):2.5 percent
Consumer Price Inflation (1999E): 10.0 percent (2000E):9.0 percent.
Major Trading Partners: China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, United States
Major Export Products: Crude oil, cotton, coffee, hides, vegetables, dried and salted fish
Major Import Products: textiles and other manufactured consumer goods, petroleum products, sugar, grain, flour, other foodstuffs, cement, machinery, chemicals
ENERGY OVERVIEW
Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources: Mohammed al-Khadim al-Wajih
Proven Oil Reserves (1/1/00): 4 billion barrels
Oil Production (1999E): 409,000 barrels per day (bbl/d)
Oil Consumption (1998E): 73,000 bbl/d
Net Oil Exports (1998E): 336,000 bbl/d
Crude Oil Refining Capacity (1/1/00): 120,000 bbl/d
Natural Gas Reserves (1/1/00): 16.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf)
Electric Generating Capacity (1/1/98): 810 megawatts
Electricity Generation (1998E): 2.2 billion kilowatthours
ENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEW
Chairman of the National Council for Environment Protection: Mohsin Al-Hamadani
Total Energy Consumption (1998E): 0.15 quadrillion Btu* (0.04 percent of world total energy consumption)
Energy-Related Carbon Emissions (1998E): 3.0 million metric tons of carbon (0.05 percent of world carbon emissions)
Per Capita Energy Consumption (1998E): 10.6 million Btu (vs. U.S. value of 350.7 million Btu)
Per Capita Carbon Emissions (1998E): 0.2 metric tons of carbon (vs. U.S. value of 5.5 metric tons of carbon)
Energy Intensity (1997E): 11,300 Btu/ $1990 (vs U.S. value of 13,900 Btu/ $1990)**
Carbon Intensity (1997E): 0.22 metric tons of carbon/thousand $1990 (vs U.S. value of 0.21 metric tons/thousand $1990)**
Sectoral Share of Energy Consumption (1997E): Transportation (70.4 percent), Residential (18.8 percent), Industrial (10.9 percent)
Sectoral Share of Carbon Emissions (1997E): Transportation (69.9 percent), Industrial (10.1 percent), Residential (19.8 percent)
Fuel Share of Energy Consumption (1998E): Oil (100.0 percent)
Fuel Share of Carbon Emissions (1998E): Oil (100.0 percent)
Renewable Energy Consumption (1997E): 1.6 trillion Btu*
Number of People per Motor Vehicle (1997): 29.4 (vs. U.S. value of 1.3)
Status in Climate Change Negotiations: Non-Annex I country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (ratified February 21st, 1996). Not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol.
Major Environmental Issues: Very limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Major International Environmental Agreements: A party to Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban and Ozone Layer Protection
* The total energy consumption statistic includes petroleum, dry natural gas, coal, net hydro, nuclear, geothermal, solar and wind electric power. The renewable energy consumption statistic is based on International Energy Agency (IEA) data and includes hydropower, solar, wind, tide, geothermal, solid biomass and animal products, biomass gas and liquids, industrial and municipal wastes. Sectoral shares of energy consumption and carbon emissions are also based on IEA data.
**GDP based on EIA International Energy Annual 1998
OIL and GAS INDUSTRIES
Organizations: Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) - production and refining; General Corporation for Oil and Mineral Resources (GCOMR) - investment and holding company; Yemen Refining Company (YRC) - refining; General Department of Crude Oil Marketing (GDCOM) - handles government shares of exports; Yemen Exploration and Production Company (YEPC) - contracts
Major Oil Fields: Alif, Asaad Al-Kamil, Camaal, Azal
Foreign Company Involvement: Adair International, British Gas, Canadian Occidental, Hunt Oil, Kerr-McGee, Nimir Petroleum, Total, TransGlobe Energy, Vintage Petroleum, Yukong
Major Refineries (Capacity): Aden (110,000 bbl/d), Marib (10,000 bbl/d)
Major Ports: Aden, Hisn an Nushaymah, Al Khalf, Mocha, Nishtun, Ra's Isa, Ra's Kathib, Salif
Major Pipelines: Marib-Ra's Isa Pipeline (pipeline between the Marib fields and the deep sea port of Ra's Isa on the Red Sea), Shabwa-Rudhum Pipeline (pipeline linking the Shabwa fields to the Rudhum terminal on the Gulf of Aden at Hisn an Nushaymah).
Note: The information contained in this report is the best available as of March 2000 and can change.
Source: United States Energy Information Administration.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
