Parliament thwarts government’s oil agreement [Archives:2004/732/Front Page]

The Yemeni Parliament succeeded last week in thwarting a dubious government agreement to sell 60% of its share from an oil field in a way that breaks the law. The Ministry of Oil signed an agreement with one of the Saudi investors in which it sold 60% of the oil in bloc No. 53 for$13 million per year, whilst its annual revenue reached $20 million. It denied that the bargain was against the law and was in favor of Yemen.
Over 120 MPs threatened that they would withdraw their confidence from the government if it does not abolish the agreement. The Minister of Oil, Dr. Rashad Baraba'a, was summoned before the Parliament last Wednesday to reply to their questions and discuss with them the report conducted by a parliamentary committee that uncovered the unlawfulness of the bargain. In a heated debate, some MPs accused the Ministry of Oil of being corrupt. Sakhar al-Wajih MP of the GPC caucus demanded that the Minister apologize for saying the Parliament's report was inaccurate and that there was an ill intention behind it.
The Parliament decided on Wednesday that the oil agreement should be stopped and authorized the Oil and the Constitutional Committees to discuss the comments of the ministry on the parliamentary report that was behind the disagreement and confrontation between Parliament and the government and report its finding within 2 weeks. MPs described the bargain as the “biggest corruption issue in the field of oil ever discovered in the country” and that it would have caused Yemen to lose $7million per year. Ali Ashal MP , member of the Oil Committee described the decision ever as “a demonstration that it stands against corruption regardless of the political tendencies of its members”. However, the Ministry of Oil defended its decision and said that it is consistent with the law.
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