Yemen: Economic analysts... Labor protests paralyze the Marib gas power plant.

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

Arab Gulf_Follow-ups: The city of Marib is witnessing the latest developments in the electricity crisis, after the gas station went out of service, coinciding with the continuation of the workers' strike in protest against the non-disbursement of the budget allocated for the year 2024. This was preceded by a significant deterioration in the electricity situation in the oil governorate, which is supposed to be outside the scope of electricity crises due to its hosting of the largest gas-fired power generation project in Yemen. In this context, journalist and social activist Khaled Saeed confirms to "Al-Araby Al-Jadeed" that the frequent outages have directly affected the daily lives of residents, especially the displaced, as they represent the largest percentage of the governorate's population, and most of them live in displacement sites that are highly exposed to the risks of weather fluctuations and high temperatures. For days, local public authorities have been seeking to contain the problem of the gas station workers' strike, who are adhering to their demands, with ongoing negotiations with the concerned authorities. Meanwhile, the trade union committee for the station's workers confirms that it will work to temporarily restart the station in appreciation of the suffering of the residents in light of a severe heat wave and prolonged daily power outages, with the continuation of the comprehensive strike until its demands are met. The current outage of the station is the third in the past two months, as the station is constantly exposed to technical malfunctions that take it out of service for days. Experts and technicians attribute this to the failure to carry out periodic maintenance of the station, and to its operation with only one turbine, whose capacity does not exceed 90 megawatts out of three gas "turbines" with a total capacity of 341 megawatts. Despite the announcement by the competent authorities at the end of 2024 of the addition of a new "turbine" to work in the gas station after its maintenance to cover the deficit in electricity, this has not had any tangible impact on improving the electricity service in Marib, which has relied on the gas station for electricity generation since 2021. In Aden, southern Yemen, the latest programming of power outage hours has reached about 10 hours compared to two hours of lighting, with increasing complaints and discontent from citizens about the deterioration of electricity and the inability of the government, which recently boasts of improving the exchange rate of the local currency, to improve electricity and increase lighting hours compared to outage hours. No improvement in service Economic analyst in Aden, Majed Al-Daari, tells "Al-Araby Al-Jadeed": "The electricity situation in Aden remains the same without any improvement in service, two hours on and 10 hours off, and the problem is related to the lack of fuel and the lack of financial liquidity for the government to purchase the value of the fuel to operate power plants, or to provide crude fuel from Marib and Shabwa in eastern Yemen to feed and operate the "President" station, which is capable of improving and addressing the problem to a greater extent, as it needs an average of about 27 trucks of fuel to operate." The boiling, tension, and protests continue in the largest Yemeni governorate in terms of area and rich in wealth and resources - Hadramout Governorate - due to the electricity crisis, which residents of the governorate complain is deteriorating significantly, exacerbating their suffering and hindering their work and activities. Professor of Economics at Hadramout University, Muhammad Al-Kassadi, spoke in this regard to "Al-Araby Al-Jadeed," about the fact that the electricity problem in Hadramout is the lack of generation and the fuel crisis, and there are no real radical solutions to address the crisis, pointing out that Hadramout needs gas-fired power plants because the plants that are relied upon operate on diesel. There was a slight indication of improving the service, three hours off and two hours on, which was quickly dispelled by a complete power outage in many areas of the governorate, especially the coastal areas of Hadramout.