More Energy News

Neither Greg nor I are energy experts- even The Prize, as gripping as it was, was more or less Finnegan’s Wake for me. And zinc mines are nowhere near as sexy or compelling as revolution or the latest jihadi tape. But, dammit, we’re going to keep trying to figure out and analyze Yemen’s economy, and hope that our vast army of readers can continue to fill in the blanks in the comment section.

The first thing today is the aforementioned supersexy zinc mine. ZincOx, the main partner in the Jabali mine, which is the first of its kind in Yemen, announced that the project was on-time and was ready to “commence production” in the first half of 2010.

The development work at Jabali is progressing well. The site levelling is complete and the laying of the foundations is expected imminently. All of the major processing equipment has been ordered and some is already manufactured and awaiting transportation to site. The project remains within budget.

That is exciting. I think it is interesting and wierd how dry corporate statements about how ZOX (its stockmarket symbol, which would double as a name if they were an evil coporation) has no liabilities or any debt at the corporate level translates to a touch of hope in a fragile and trembling country thousands of miles away.

But, regarding oil: here is a report which looks comprehensive about Yemen’s oil production from now until 2020. I was going to purchase it until I saw that it was 1800 euros. So if any of our readers are eccentric millionaires and want to buy me a copy, I do not discourage that.

I also want to talk about drug trafficking in Yemen, but I have just ran out of time for now. More later.