The Supreme Crude Oil Marketing Committee approved crude oil sales for the month of July to the highest bids presented by 13 international companies at an overall amount of 200,000 barrels of al-Masila oil, in addition to 305,000 barrels of Marib oil.

The report ensured a rise in the level of competition to secure bids, and that new companies have entered into the competition as well. It also mentioned noticeable increases in the companies' demand amounts, attributing this to the new, transparent policy approved by the committee, which ended negotiation processes with companies, and approved sales to the highest bidder.

It also reviewed the technical committee's report on the execution of May and June 2009 sales, which were based on the standards approved at previous committee meetings.

The committee praised the continued progress of the technical committee's performance with respect to improvements made in the amounts' presentation mechanism, invitations to bid, the quotations reception and analysis process, as well as the transparent identification of sales options and selling according to the best prices.

In a related context Yemen's oil export revenues have dropped off in the first quarter of 2009 to $254.8 million (about 74.5 percent), as compared to $ 998.8 million during the same period last year.

A report issued by the Central Bank of Yemen showed that the decline in oil revenues coupled with a decline in the government's share of the overall oil exports during the first quarter of 2009 caused a decrease in production from 10.4 million barrels to only 5.9 million barrels.

The report pointed out that the average price of crude oil was $43.1 per barrel, plunging from $96.3 per barrel in the same period last year.

The report also revealed a decline in foreign currency reserves in Yemen to about $7.4 billion by the end of March 2009, compared to $8.2 billion during the same time in 2008.

It should be noted that Yemen depends mainly on crude oil revenues, which cover about 70 percent of the resources in the State's general budget, 63 percent of the country's total exports, and 30 percent of the total gross domestic product.

Source: Zawya