Shabwa Governor Mohammed Saleh Bin Adyo said yesterday at the launch of two computer laboratories in the capital Ataq that the governorate has received $31 million in crude oil sales from 13 shipments of crude produced from Al-Aqla oil field.

The new laboratories – in Shabwa’s College of Oil and Minerals, a branch of the University of Aden – have 32 computers with applied programs for students in the geology and gas departments of the college. The new equipment was supplied by the Vienna-based oil company OMV, which has operated in Yemen for decades.

The governor highlighted the importance of the two labs to researchers and scientists specializing in oil and mineral gas.

OMV resumed oil production in the Al-qla sector nearly a year-and-a-half ago after ceasing operations following the outbreak of war in early 2015.

The secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) tried to overtake Shabwa after seizing control of the interim capital Aden in August. Yemen army forces deployed to Shabwa from neighboring Marib governorate and pushed back the STC advances.

The Saudi-brokered Riyadh agreement, signed in early November, seeks to solidify stability in southern governorates including Aden and Shabwa by incorporating the STC into the internationally recognized governorate. Control over oil fields in Shabwa and neighboring Hadhramout governorate is a major source of tension between the parties to the Riyadh agreement.

-Almasdar Online