Yemen has resumed production and exports from its Masila oilfields for the first time since a civil war began in March 2015, Reuters reported.
Yemen port authorities said late July that they would reopen the crude terminal at Ash Shihr, about 800km east of Aden, where oil from the fields run by PetroMasila and most other Yemen fields is lifted. Furthermore, The oil tanker Seaprince lifted a 1m barrel cargo of Masila crude oil in early August and a 3m barrel cargo is due to be lifted by the oil tanker Ataka, according to The National.
Oil minister, Saif al-Sharif, said Yemen also hoped to resume production from the Shabwa and Marib oilfields, as well as resvive exporting oil and natural gas from Ras Isa port, on the Red Sea, and Balahaf on the Gulf of Aden, but gave no details on timing or quantity.
Yemen has two primary crude streams, the light and sweet Marib and the medium-gravity and more sulphur-rich Masila, with 80% of the country’s reserves located in the southeast Masila Basin.
Yemen pumped an average of around 127,000b/d in 2014 but output declined to about 44,000b/d in July 2015, when the civil war was at its worst and most foreign oil companies had left the country.
