Yemen oil minister warns foreign firms against looting energy resources

The minister of oil and minerals in Yemen’s National Salvation Government has warned foreign companies against plundering energy resources of the war-wracked Arab country, stressing that Sana’a will spare no effort to defend national sovereignty and safeguard public interests and wealth.

Ahmed Dares called on multinational oil and gas companies to enter into negotiations with the Sana’a government before taking any actions to explore and extract crude oil and natural gas in Yemen, and cautioned of adverse consequences in case the warning is not taken into serious consideration.

“Sana'a will not remain idle in the face of any escalation of tensions by the Saudi-led coalition of aggression in the economic field,” the Yemeni oil minister noted.

In late October, Yemen's National Salvation Government issued a warning after targeting a cargo ship off an oil terminal in the war-wrecked country's south to prevent Saudi-backed forces from using it for oil exports.

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• Another Yemen-bound fuel ship seized by Saudi-led coalition in fresh act of piracy

In a statement, Yemen's Foreign Ministry also denounced the UN Security Council's reaction to the "warning strike" at the al-Dubba terminal, where a Greek oil tanker was docked to load oil. The statement came after the council denounced the strike as a serious threat to the peace process and stability of Yemen.

The ministry stressed that Yemen will not hesitate to defend national sovereignty, and safeguard public interests and wealth against any act of looting or abuse.

Back in November, Yemeni army troops and allied fighters managed to stop a foreign oil tanker in the waters off the energy-rich southern Shabwah Province as it was trying to smuggle hundreds of thousands of barrels of fuel out of the impoverished Arab nation.

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• Yemeni army thwarts attempt by foreign ship to steal 'enormous' amounts of country's oil

At that time, Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a statement that the country's forces sent out several warning messages to the tanker ship, which had anchored in the port of Qena located in the Rudum district of the province, and did not allow the vessel to loot the Yemeni nation’s natural resources.

Ansarullah official: Enemies’ anti-Yemen plots doomed to failure

A senior member of the political bureau of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement has sharply criticized the December military and security cooperation agreement between Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), denouncing it as a failed attempt aimed at justification of the Abu Dhabi regime’s aggression against Yemen.

“The recent military and security cooperation agreement between the UAE and Saudi mercenaries could be viewed as an effort in line with the atrocious Saudi-led aggression, and meant to implement its evil conspiracies,” Ali al-Qahhoum said.

“We tell member states of the Saudi-led coalition that their plots are all doomed to failure, and Yemeni army troops and security forced will hopefully thwart their conspiracies and upset the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” he added.

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• Military option on table against all-out blockade on Yemen: Deputy Prime Minister

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.

The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.

While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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