Government cancels Hadramout Refinery project [Archives:2006/968/Local News]

SANA'A, July 30 ) The Yemeni government decided at the start of this week to terminate the agreement signed 5 years ago between Saudi and Emirate investors regarding the Hadramout Refinery project.

According to Al-Shoura.Net that published the news on July 29, the Ministry of Oil (MO) according to sources there intends to terminate all its obligations regarding Hadramout Refinery Company (HRC), as the company violated the agreements and contracts.

The same sources affirmed that this project was cancelled as the company, belonging to Saudi and Emirate businessmen of Hadrami origins, refused the partnerships imposed by the authority.

Two years ago, a delegation including a number of founding members of HRC visited the site at which the project will be set up. Official media coverage was obviously attendant at the time, but it soon started to fade. Local sources mentioned that the company earlier accepted a bid submitted by a specialized American-Korean company to launch the construction phase.

According to 26 September.Net, belonging to Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Oil is now transparently studying a number of new international bids to construct the refinery in Hadramout.

The sources affirmed that these government measures aim to combat the monopoly of some companies and consider the country's interest assuring that the “MO will not accept bids of companies practicing monopoly in any Yemeni area and further