Yemen's Houthis Threaten New Oil Shock as Civil War Reignites
EU Sets Target To Double Electrification Rate, Cut Oil & Gas Use Colombia’s newly elected president plans… Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… Yemen's Houthi Rebels are threatening to make the global energy crisis worse at the same time that the nation's own energy security is in dire straits.
After four years of an unofficial truce and precarious peacetime,Yemen has once again erupted into conflict this week.
And this escalating tension comes on the heels of months of threats on the part of the Houthi rebels to fight alongside Iran, potentially making the region's waterways ever more impassable for the global oil trade.
Less than half of Yemen's population has access to electricity, and an energy crisis is growing more dire by the day in southern Yemen.
In the intense heat of the summer, the southern city of Aden is experiencing power cuts forup to 20 hours a day.
The regional Hiswa power station has halted service, with authorities indicating a "network strike", while another nearby power station, the President power station, has cut back production due to a lack of crude oil supplies to operate its generators.
The New Arab reports that “the outages have disrupted daily life across the city, affecting water supply, health services, education and commercial activity” and that “Many residents in districts including Al-Mualla, Sirah and Crater have been forced to sleep on the streets, in scenes that reflect the scale of hardship caused by prolonged power outages.” As a result, Yemenis are using dangerous alternatives to gain access to electricity.
Solar-plus-battery systems have become critical lifelines for energy security in poor countries with weak governance and infrastructure.
Installation of these systems has skyrocketed in nations facing extreme temperatures and unreliable energy gridssuch as Pakistanand Yemen, but some of these systems are shoddily installed by residents without the supervision of the specialized teams that such installations require, and are therefore extremely hazardous to their users.
In Yemen, this has resulted in a dangerous uptick in battery fires, with deadly consequences.
Mohammed Saeed, the head of the emergency department at the burn unit of Al-Thawra Hospital, describes a gruesome scene.
“We don’t know the exact technical reasons behind these solar energy fires, but the centre frequently receives patients from Taiz city and neighbouring governorates suffering from burns caused by battery fires,” he recentlydescribedto Al Jazeera.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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