The control of Persian Gulf petroleum resources

What it is at stake in Yemen

D.Anton

The Persian (Arabian) Gulf produces about half of the oil sold in the petroleum international markets.

The Strait of Hormuz, is the only exit point of these oil and gas exports. The daily flow is about 17-20 million bbl/d, 35% of all seaborne traded oil and almost 20% of oil traded worldwide.

More than 85% of these crude oil exports went to Asian markets (Japan, India, South Korea, and China). The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, even temporarily, could lead to serious economic consequences.

Although there are some pipelines that could bypass Hormuz they can only replace palrtially the Hormuz flow (the unused capacity of the Saudi Arabia and UAE pipelines is only 1 million bbl/day that could eventually be increased to 4 million bbl/day.

Still, in the near future most of the exported petroleum in the world will continue travelling through Hormuz.

The Hormuz strait is quite narrow. At its narrowest point it is 54 km wide. For this reason it has an enormous strategic importance.  

The Hormuz coastal countries are Iran, UAE and Oman. Potentially, Iran could easily block the strait. The likelihood of this blockade happening is extremely low but it still exists.

On the other hand, an important part of the petroleum exports going to Western Europe passes through the Red Sea and the Suez canal.

In order to get into the Red Sea ships must go through the strait of Bab el Mandeb. The Bab el Mandeb coastal countries are Yemen on its Asian side and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African coast.

Bab-el-Mandeb is a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean sea. An estimated 3.5-4 million barrels of oil pass through the strait each day, which is 10% of all petroleum moved by tankers.

The width of the strait is about 30 km from Ras Menheli in Yemen to Ras Siyyan in Djibouti.

As in Hormuz, the Bab el Mandeb strait is vulnerable because of its narrowness, and eventually could be threatened from coastal countries actions, particularly from Yemen which has shown high political instability.

Presently the Yemen government is controlled by the Houthis, a shia nationalistic organization, which is closely related to shia Iran.

Therefore, Iran, with the Houthy alliance, might be, if necessary,  in a position to threaten both the Hormuz and Bab el Mandeb straits, and therefore threaten the circulation of most petroleum exports of the world.

Neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States or the United Kingdom would allow this situation to prosper, and as a result Saudi Arabia, a sunni muslim state (enemy of the shia Irán), has been bombing Yemeni cities and killing people for almost two years (with the help fo the U.S. and the U.K.).

As it can be seen, the war in Yemen is also a result of the struggle for control of the Middle East petroleum resources. It does not seem to cease in the near future.

Again,the greed of petro-capitalism will continue killing innocent people in Yemen and elsewhere.