A giant oil tanker has arrived at Shihr port in Hadhramaut province, eastern Yemen, coming from China to loot more than two million barrels of Yemeni oil.
A source at the Ministry of Oil in Sana’a said in a press statement on Tuesday that the giant oil tanker “Apolitares” has arrived at the port of Shihr for the second time in two months time to loot large quantities of Yemeni crude oil.
He explained that the value of the crude oil quantity to be looted on board the “Apolitares” ship is estimated to be more than 270 million dollars, according to the Brent crude stock exchange, which would be sufficient to cover the salaries of employees in all parts of the country for more than two months.
The vessel had previously already docked in the same port on 10 April, coming from the Chinese port of Zhoushan, and carried 316,679 tons of looted crude oil, which is worth $251 million (equivalent to 226 billion Yemeni riyals, according to the average exchange rates in Aden), according to the source.
The organised looting of Yemeni oil comes at a time when Yemenis are suffering from multiple crises due to the war and the siege, one of which is the interruption of salaries, while this looted wealth alone would be enough to cover the salaries of all state employees and more, as confirmed by the statistics by the Oil Ministry.
Observers say that the looting of Yemeni oil by the Saudi-led coalition and its tools and complicit countries is a serious and organised economic crime.
