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HE Mr. Khaled Behah, oil and minerals minister, met
Mr. Murli Deora, India's oil and natural gas
minister, and his accompanying delegation in their
current visit to Yemen.
In the Seminar entitled "Oil and Gas Investment in
Yemen and the Nature of Indian Companies Work and
their Aspiration to Invest in Yemen" and organized
by the MOM, Mr. Behah gave a brief breakdown of the
development of Yemen's oil production and oil blocks
scattered in some governorates. Then, Eng. Nasser
Al-Humaidi, petroleum exploration and production
authority's deputy for exploration affairs,
presented a paper on the nature of oil and gas
investments in Yemen.
Following that, Mr. Dentis Jouba, Raylans Company's
GM, gave an account of his company's work with Hood
Oil Company, a Yemeni firm, in four oil projects in
Block (9). He indicated that his company carried out
oil exploration work and constructed a 270km
pipeline from the production site to Safer Company
in block (18), Ma'reb. At the time being, while
refining 60 thousand barrels from Ra'ess Issa
Refinery in its first production phase, the company
is planning to raise its production to 85 thousand
barrels/day in the second stage. It is also looking
forward to operate in blocks 34 and 37.
More over, both ministers agreed on activating and
enhancing Indian companies' exploratory activities
and on studying the construction of common projects
in oil, gas and other relevant services and
industries. In this respect, Mr. Behah and Mr. Murli
signed a bilateral cooperative protocol to form a
joint-technical operating committee assigned to make
proposals for investment opportunities in oil
industry of both countries and set down the general
framework of such investment openings. The committee
is to facilitate other matters like exchange of
expertise and information regarding ways and methods
of attracting oil investments.
The agreement included that both parties should
cooperate in training Yemeni and Indian cadres in
different arenas including oil and minerals. Such
training would be done through organizing
specialized courses in available training centers in
both countries. To do so, both ministries should
coordinate regarding pertinent details. In addition,
both countries should participate in oil and gas
conferences, symposiums and workshops organized by
or held in either country.
In today's meeting with his Indian counterpart, HE
Mr. Behah affirmed that, "The Yemeni ministry of oil
is willing to offer the necessary incentives to
attract and encourage public and private Indian
investments and be the Indian party's partner in oil
exploration in offshore blocks and in refinery and
petrochemicals.'
On his part the Indian minister of oil and natural
gas stated that Indian companies are eager to have
investment and exploration work in the oil and gas
sector in Yemen. They are willing to invest and
explore offshore blocks and have oil and gas
investment partnership with the public and private
sector in Yemen. They are keen to expand Aden and Ma'reb's refineries.
The Indian minister further showed that his country
is fully interested in buying a percentage of the
Yemeni gas as soon as Yemen has made additional gas
exploration and in establishing petrochemicals
factories. He also affirmed that India is willing to
offer Yemen technical and university scholarships.
These talks and discussions
were attended by Abdulmalek A'lamah, oil ministry
deputy, a number of representatives of Yemeni and
Indian oil companies and heads of the Yemeni
ministry's affiliates.
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