Yemen suffering from ‘systematic looting’ of oil wealth by Saudi-led coalition mercenaries: Yemen Petroleum Company

The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) says member countries of the Saudi-led coalition waging war against Yemen are looting the impoverished country's oil reserves, urging the UN to take action to alleviate the sufferings of Yemeni people. 

“We are suffering from a systematic looting operation, carried out by the aggression [coalition's] mercenaries and run by the member countries of the [Saudi-led] coalition, and which targets the wealth of the Yemeni people,” Essam Al-Mutawakel, a spokesman for the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC), told al-Masirah television network on Wednesday.

He noted that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a member of the coalition, has brought boats and is present in Yemen’s ports to steal the Yemeni oil.

Al-Mutawakel added that the Saudi-led aggressors have stolen “more than 165 million dollars” a month from Yemen's oil sale revenues, while Yemen is grappling with an economic crisis.

He further said that revenues from “Sea Scout” ship, through which 950,000 barrels of crude oil are being looted, could disburse the salaries of employees in Yemen for a month.

On Tuesday, a Yemeni official reported that the Sea Scout vessel arrived at Bir Ali port of the southern province of Shabwah.

The YPC spokesman also urged the United Nations to adopt “an objective and impartial” stance towards the economic and humanitarian situation of the Yemeni people.

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating war against the poorest Middle Eastern country in 2015 to reinstall former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement.

Protracted war in Yemen has killed or maimed 10,000 children: UNICEF

UNICEF says it urgently needs more than $235 million to continue its life-saving work in Yemen.

The war, accompanied by a tight siege, has failed to reach its goals, but it has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people and put millions more at risk of starvation by destroying much of the country’s infrastructure.

According to the UN, Yemen is experiencing the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

This comes as Saudi Arabia continues to seize vessels carrying diesel and fuel for the Yemeni people, the move which Sana’a has condemned as an act of piracy.

The YPC’s executive director on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia has seized a vessel carrying 27,000 tons of diesel and mazut for the Yemeni people.

Yemen blasts 'act of piracy' after Saudi Arabia seizes fuel ship

The vessel seized by the Saudi coalition is carrying 27,000 tonnes of diesel and mazut, says the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC)’s executive director.

“The US-led aggression has seized a new ship, FOS POWER, carrying 27,000 tons of fuel and diesel belonging to the private sector factories, prevents it from reaching the port of Hudaydah,” Ammar al-Adhrai wrote in a tweet.

Denouncing what he described as the continued act of piracy in the Red Sea, al-Adhrai said the seizure came even as the vessel had been inspected and obtained entry permits from the United Nations.

Earlier on Tuesday, the YPC had announced that the Saudi war coalition forces were holding three fuel vessels, including one carrying natural gas. 

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