A report issued recently by the Central Bank of Yemen revealed that the country consumed over 10 million barrels of oils during the first half of 2008.

The report also noted that the domestic consumption of oil increased markedly to reach 10.9 million barrels of oil by the end of June 2008, some 31.5 of Yemen's total production of oil.

Yemen's domestic consumption of oil increased with 1.2 million barrels to reach 10.90 million barrels after it was only 9.3 million barrels last year. In return, the country's exports of oil mounted during the same period to 23.8 million barrels sold for $2.7 billion.

At the meantime, the domestic market is still experiencing a hard diesel and gas crisis and dozens of vehicles and trucks operated in diesel or gas are seen lining up before fuel stations in the capital, Sana'a. This passively affected and restricted the traffic in many streets.

Similar crises are reported in other main cities like Aden, Taiz and Al-Hodeidah. The case is even worse in agricultural provinces like Sa'ada, Al-Jawf, Amran and Mareb where farmers depend on diesel for power that operates water well generators.

Yemen imports big quantities of refined diesel from abroad, particularly from Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia has pledged assistance to the country through gas tankers to help cover up for the current shortage of gas whose use increases markedly during the blessed month of Ramadan.