Yemen Exploration and Production Company ("YEPC"), a partnership between affiliates of Hunt Oil Company and ExxonMobil announced that arbitration has been filed with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France. Central Standard Time against Yemen in response to Yemen's expropriation of Block 18 (the Marib Al-Jawf Block) in Yemen on Nov. 15, 2005.
YEPC has produced oil from Block 18 in Yemen for approximately 20 years pursuant to a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) passed into law in Yemen in 1982. A five-year extension to the original PSA was signed by the Government of Yemen and YEPC on Jan. 4, 2004 and the 5-year term began on Nov. 15, 2005.
Since November 15, 2005, the Government of Yemen has taken numerous actions to prevent YEPC from exercising its duties as operator of Block 18 in breach of the various legally executed and binding agreements signed in 2004. This is without precedent in Yemen. Further, Yemen has attempted to replace YEPC in the Marib Block with a government-owned company, Safer Exploration and Production Operations Company ("SEPOC").