OMV provides faint light in Yemen gloom

Austria's OMV, the first IOC to return to Yemen since the war started, has resumed limited exports

When the Saudi-led Arab coalition began air strikes on targets in Yemen in March 2015 and fighting on the ground intensified, all international oil companies suspended operations. OMV said it had to shut in all production facilities in early April that year and declare force majeure on all its blocks and open contracts. This was because of "a major deterioration of the security environment" and a sea blockade of ports that "prevented crude export". Earlier this year, OMV decided to return to the Habban field in Block S4 in Shabwa province. The company said the field hadn't been affected by the war. As a result, "comprehensive technical, commercial and security arrangements" were put in pla