Editing Economy of Yemen (section)

=== Oil and gas ===
{{Update section|date=February 2019}}
Yemen is an oil producer and has significant untapped offshore oil and gas deposits. Unlike many regional oil producers, Yemen relies heavily on foreign oil companies that have production-sharing agreements with the government. Income from oil production constitutes 70 to 75 percent of government revenue and about 90 percent of exports. Yemen contains proven crude oil reserves of more than {{convert|9|Goilbbl|m3}}, although that is falling from the country's older fields, which have been wrecked by war and corruption, both driven by the fact that oil provides around 90% of the country's exports.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7739402.stm |title=Yemen 'faces crisis as oil ends' |work=BBC News |date=20 November 2008 |author=Martin Plaut}}</ref> The [[World Bank]] predicted that Yemen's oil and gas revenues would plummet during 2009 and 2010, and fall to zero by 2017 as supplies ran out; the UK's Royal Institute for International Affairs warned that instability in Yemen could expand a zone of lawlessness from northern Kenya to Saudi Arabia, while describing Yemen's democracy as "fragile" and pointing to armed conflicts with Islamists and tribal insurgents as causes of instability. As a result, Western entities and other diplomats and leaders have an interest in maintaining Yemen's stability averting adverse outcomes.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /> According to statistics published by the Energy Information Administration, crude oil output averaged {{convert|413300|oilbbl/d|m3/d}} in 2005, a reduction from {{convert|423700|oilbbl/d|m3/d|abbr=on}} in 2004. For the first eight months of 2006, crude oil output was flat, averaging {{convert|412500|oilbbl/d|m3/d|abbr=on}}.<ref name=cp />

Following a minor discovery in 1982 in the south, an American company found an oil basin near [[Ma'rib]] in 1984. A total of {{convert|27000|m3/d|oilbbl/d|abbr=off}} were produced there in 1995. A small oil refinery began operations near Ma'rib in 1986. A Soviet discovery in the southern governorate of [[Shabwah]] has proven only marginally successful even when taken over by a different group. A Western consortium began exporting oil from [[Al-Masilah|Masila]] in the [[Hadhramaut]] in 1993, and production there reached {{convert|67000|m3/d|oilbbl/d|abbr=on}} in 1999. There are new finds in the Jannah (formerly known as the Joint Oil Exploration Area) and east Shabwah blocks. Yemen's oil exports in 1995 earned about US$1 billion.
Yemen's offshore oil and gas deposits are estimated to contain billions of barrels of oil and gas.
Marib oil contains associated natural gas. In September 1995, the Yemeni Government signed an agreement that designated [[TotalEnergies]] of France to be the lead company for a project for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 1997, Yemen Gas Company joined with various privately held companies to establish [[Yemen LNG]] (YLNG). In August 2005, the government gave final approval to three LNG supply agreements, enabling YLNG to award a $2 billion contract to an international consortium to build the country's first liquefaction plant at Balhat on the [[Arabian Sea]] coast. The project is a $3.7 billion investment over 25 years, producing approximately 6.7 million tons of LNG annually, with shipments likely to go to the United States and South Korea. Production of LNG began in October 2009. The Yemen government expects the LNG project to add $350 million to its budget and enable it to develop a petrochemicals industry.<ref name=cp />