RIYADH (Press TV) – The Saudi-led military coalition and its mercenaries plunder “three to four million barrels” of Yemeni oil every month, Yemen’s oil director says.
Executive Director of the Yemeni Oil Company Ammar al-Azra’i announced the grim news in an interview with Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television news network on Friday, saying, “We do not know where the proceeds will be deposited.”
He stressed that the looting of crude oil and liquefied natural gas by the invading forces has prevented the payment of Yemenis’ salaries.
Al-Azra’i said that Saudi-led forces have seized four ships near the Saudi port of Jizan, “two of which are carrying gasoline for public use, one carrying fuel oil for factories and the al-Hudaydah power plant, and another one carrying natural gas.”
The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a crippling siege on Yemen, from land, air, and sea.
The blockade includes the closure of the port of Hudaydah, which is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis. The invading forces have seized vessels carrying fuel and prevented them from entering the port.
The seizure of Yemeni tankers has caused a fuel shortage over the past months in Yemen, which has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It has knocked out generators and water pumps in hospitals and disrupted aid supplies across the country.
Elsewhere in his remarks, al-Azra’i said that “431 days have passed since the seizure of two ships carrying gasoline in Jizan and the compensation that the government has to pay for it has reached 8.62 million dollars.”
He added that the blockade against Hudaydah and the seizure of oil vessels are in violation of the Stockholm Agreement, which was reached between the two sides a few years ago with the UN mediation.
Back in April, Yemen’s Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmad Abdullah Dares said that more than $76 billion of Yemen’s oil and gas revenues has been looted since the beginning of the Saudi-led war on the Arab country.