Minister of Oil and Minerals held a meeting with the Arab Canadian Council for Business Men in Calgary

Calgary, Alberta: On May 1, 2007, the Minister of Oil and Minerals held a meeting with the Arab Canadian Council for Business Men in Calgary.  The meeting was held at the Calgary Petroleum Club.  The meeting was attended by around 70 business men representing 26 Canadian and International Oil companies.

During the meeting the Minister of Oil presented the Investment opportunities in Yemen and in particular to the investment opportunities in Oil, Gas and Minerals in Yemen.  In addition, he addressed the new investment privileges that are available to investors coming to Yemen as per the government regulations.  The Minister also affirmed that Yemen will provide all the support and cooperation needed to all investors in all fields.  

The Minister also addressed the investment environment and infrastructure which are encouraging to investments and that there are great opportunities for investment in all fields.  The minister welcomed all companies and business men to visit Yemen and check the investment opportunities available.  He assured them that they would admire the excellent investment environment.  At the end of his presentation, he stated that the Ministry of Oil and Minerals will announce the 4^th International Bid Round which will be devoted to the offshore blocks in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and South Socatra.

The Yemeni Ambassador Dr. Abdullah AbdulWali Nasher affirmed the strong Canadian Yemeni relations and that this relationship is continuing to develop and expand.  He also encouraged investment in Yemen in the other areas such as the industrial, agricultural, tourism, telecommunications, transportation, health and Energy as well as in the oil industry.

Eng. Nassr Ali Al-Humaidi, Deputy Chairman of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Board for Exploration Affairs gave a presentation on investment opportunities in the oil industry.  Also in his presentation he covered the current and future activities in the field of exploration, production in Yemen and the companies currently in the production and exploration phases and the service companies available in Yemen.

Mr. Al-Humaidi reemphasized that Yemen has 13 sedimentary basins.  Only two of these basins have been explored and are producing oil.  The remaining 11 sedimentary basins still require additional exploration activities as the current activities in Yemen have only covered 20% of the exploration area. 80% of the area has not had exploration activities.  Mr. Al-Humaidi also covered in details the bylaws for the International Competition for the new offshore blocks showing the transparency of the qualification system.  He also presented the new exploration blocks map that was produced on April 20^th, 2007 that now contains more than 100 blocks.  He also addressed the characteristics of the Production Sharing Agreements used in Yemen which encourages the investment in the oil industry.

At the end of the meeting, a couple of the managers of the companies that were present exhibited their appreciation of the new policy the Ministry of Oil and Minerals had adopted in awarding the open blocks for competition and the transparency that the Ministry is adhering to in dealing with the International Oil companies that have showed interest in the 4^th International Bid round.

The Minister of Oil and Minerals and accompanying delegation visited the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) where he was met by the President of SAIT Ms. Laren Louis along with a couple of senior staff of SAIT.  SAIT has around 12000 students from various countries including Yemen.  In addition they have trained around 70000 students through SAIT’s training programs.  The minister and accompanying delegation exhibited their admiration of SAIT’s activities.  At the end of the training both parties agreed on future cooperation in the field of training Yemenis in the field of exploration and production of Oil and Gas.

H.E. The Minister of Oil and Minerals also met the same afternoon with the Association of Canadian Oil producers which has more than 150 producing oil companies that are producing around 95% of the total production of Canada.  H.E. the Minister was met by Mr. Adam Sparkes, Public Affairs Manager and Mr. Stephen Rodrigues, Research Manager.  The minister was given an overview of what this association provides to its members and also the activities of the association.

In the evening the Minister of Oil held a meeting with the Yemeni students in Calgary and discussed the challenges they are facing.  The minister thanked the students for the outstanding performance at the universities and encouraged to continue the hard work and complete their university studies and return to serve their country.

The Yemeni Ambassador Dr. Abdullah AbdulWali Nasher accompanied the Minister in his meetings along with Mr. Alistair Mooney the President and General Manager of Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen and Mr. Dwain Lingenfelter, VP Government Relations and Mr. Ali Sohaiki, Executive Manager of Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen.