by Murad Abdo
ADEN, Yemen, June 10 -- In Yemen's southern port city of Aden, residents had to endure waits of up to 12 hours at filling stations to obtain cooking gas cylinders, as the city has been grappling with a severe cooking gas shortage for more than 10 days. The shortage has compounded hardships for them during the Eid al-Adha holiday.
"The atmosphere of Eid celebrations is gloomy and fraught with distress," local resident Mazen Raqeeb told Xinhua, expressing frustration with the deteriorating living conditions that have overshadowed the festivities.
The gas shortage has triggered sharp price hikes across the city. While local government has set the official price of a cooking gas cylinder at 8,000 Yemeni riyals (about 3 U.S. dollars), black market vendors are selling them for 11,000 riyals. Some stations are also charging significantly more.
"Cooking gas suddenly disappeared from sales centers, and all gas stations closed. It only appeared in scarce supply in markets at much higher prices," said Alkadher Saleh, an Aden resident.
The Yemen Gas Company, affiliated with the country's internationally recognized government, has attributed the supply crisis to multiple factors, including weak performance by local authorities, ineffective distribution oversight, and frequent interruptions of supply gas tankers.
Despite these challenges, the company maintains it continues to supply Aden, alongside other government-controlled provinces, on a daily basis.
In a statement issued Sunday, the company announced it had increased gas quantities allocated to Aden by 60 percent above previous levels, as part of efforts to ensure supply stability.
However, gas station owners said declining supply quantities and irregular deliveries had led to the shortage.
Ahmed Manea, who operates a local gas station, cited "chaos in the distribution and handling of the quantities allocated to the city of Aden" as a primary factor, along with transportation problems from production fields operated by the government-owned SAFER Exploration and Production Operations Company in the oil-rich provinces of Marib and Shabwa.
Economic expert Ramzi Sultan underscored the pressing need for government's intervention, noting that the recent appointment of Prime Minister Salim Bin Buraik, along with the country's Presidential Leadership Council members in Aden, could mark a turning point in tackling the escalating crises impacting people's daily lives.
He called for immediate action to resolve the gas shortage before it escalates further, similar to the ongoing electricity crisis, where power outages now reach up to 20 hours per day and continue without any tangible solutions.
The cooking gas shortage represents the latest in a series of economic challenges facing Aden residents, who have endured persistent shortages of essential services and commodities.
The Yemeni currency has plummeted to 2,535 riyals against the U.S. dollar, severely impacting daily life across the country in recent days.
The expert emphasized the urgent need for the Yemeni government to prove its ability to manage the economic crisis by stabilizing the currency, improving public revenue administration, and ensuring the consistent delivery of essential services to citizens.
Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since 2014 when the Houthi militant group seized control of Sanaa and other northern regions, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government.
The war, now in its second decade, has triggered what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Despite repeated mediation efforts, a lasting peace remains elusive. ■
