Fuel… the Houthis’ new way to make billions of Yemenis

Houthi militias continue to collectively punish Yemenis in Sanaa and neighboring governorates by raising oil derivative prices, which have a significant impact on the prices of food, medicine, transportation fees, and electricity and water tariffs.

Terrorist militias raised the price of gasoline to 14,000 riyals per 20-liter plate and diesel to 17,500 riyals ahead of Eid al-Adha, Yemen News reported. Prices for consumer goods, basic foodstuffs, vegetables, transportation fees, electricity and water services also rose, it said.

Houthi militias admitted that 22 ships entered the port from the beginning of the virtual truce until July 14. Meanwhile, the head of the Presidential Command Council in Yemen, Rashad Al-Alimi, confirmed that seven ships entered the port of Hodeidah, explaining that they carry more than 200,000 metric tons of oil derivatives, without paying any customs or taxes to the state.

Economists believe the price of a 20-liter can be reduced to 12,000 riyals per barrel of gasoline, based on calculations made by the Sanaa Oil Company at $127.6 per barrel and at a rate of 590 riyals per dollar.

With oil prices dropping to $96 per barrel and exchange rates dropping to $558 per dollar, the price of oil derivatives in Sanaa is expected to drop to 8,900 riyals for a 20-liter can of gasoline.

Houthi militias receive oil support from Tehran, which sells it to citizens at prices three times higher than on the world market, and have imposed successive price doses on the prices of these items, which reached three times their price in 2014.