Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have said on Thursday they will stregthen security around oil facilities after an Arab-allied military operation started in Yemen, Reuters has reported.
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and the Kingdom’s interior minister, Mohammed bin Nayef, stressed the importance of “strengthening all security measures on the borders of the kingdom and in all public utilities and around the oil and industrial facilities” in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.
Kuwait also said earlier on Thursday it had raised security around its oil facilities inside and outside the country after the military operation.
“In the light of developments in Yemen and to protect the strategic interests of the oil sector and securing oil products for inside and outside several procedures and precautionary steps taken,” official news agency KUNA quoted state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. acting Chief Executive Officer Mohammad al-Farhoud as saying.
Yemen’s crude oil production was about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March 2014 and exports about 1.4-1.5mn barrels of Masila crude each month, mainly to China, according to information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The majority of Yemen’s crude oil production comes from the Marib-Jawf area in central Yemen and near the Masila area in the east.
Total, the main oil operator in Yemen, said recently its operations hadn’t been impacted by the situation in Yemen with a number of oilfield workers still on the ground.
However, the oil major said it closed its offices in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
“We employ expats and locals and it is clear that as we are still producing in Yemen we still have staff on the ground. Now we are adapting day by day the number and what we are doing about the local security,” said Stephane Michel, Total’s president for the Middle East and North Africa, in an interview for Arabianoilandgas.com.
Michel added: “[Security] is one of main concerns and focus to make sure that we adjust our operation to the security aspect. For the time being we have been able to manage the situation.”
