Yemen needs to buy 270,000 tons of diesel in March as the main Aden refinery is still shut down and the Saudi Arabia would suspend its diesel grants to Yemen this month, well informed sources said.
Yemen depends on fuel imports and denotations as its main refinery has been shut for two months following consecutive bombings led to stopping of crude flow.
The Yemeni Oil Minister Hisham Sharaf has said that Yemen consumes about 260,000 tons of oil per month.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the French Total company that it has stopped the oil production at the block 10 in Masila since Feb.13 due to a strike in a neighboring bloc 14 that caused the halt of crude oil production.
Total holds 28.6 percent stake in the block 10 with a capacity of 70 thousand barrels per day.
A senior official of the Ministry of Oil and Minerals told Reuters that oil production and exports from the largest oilfield in Yemen ended with a strike of workers last Thursday.
Workers of the Petromasila National Company went on strike since Thursday, February 9, demanding better salaries, retirement packages and of course there is no way the local company (PetroMasila) can match what Nexen was providing for its employees.
The workers have reached an agreement with the Oil Minister for which their demands would be met.
Alsahwah newspaper quoted sources of the Oil Ministry as saying that official s of the ministry deliberately thwarted the agreement with aim of complicating the economic situation of the country before the presidential elections.
The strike led to the suspension of Yemen's exportation of around 160,000 barrels of oil.
This halt of exportation would impact on Yemen's budget that mainly depends on oil exports which accounts for up to 70 percent of general budget revenues, while customs and tax revenues account for only 18 percent.