By Ali Oweida,

Maarib, Yemen: Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) postponed its price rise on locally-manufactured oil derivatives following the province-wide protests, the company announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the provincial Maarib office of the company said: “It was decided to postpone the implementation of the new price list on the petroleum products given the life conditions in the province and the increasing number of domestic migrants.”

It also added that the postponement came after the instruction of the province’s governor Sultan al-Arade.

Earlier in the day, armed tribesmen blocked an international highway linking Maarib to Yemen’s eastern provinces and Saudi Arabia to protest a sharp rise in the price of locally-manufactured oil products.

On Monday, YPC raised its prices for locally-manufactured oil derivatives — including gasoline and diesel fuel — by more than 30 percent in the Maarib, Hadhramaut, Al-Jawf and Shabwa provinces.

It attributed the move to rising international oil prices and increasing production costs.

The ongoing conflict in Yemen, which began almost four years ago, has had a profoundly negative impact on the national economy.

—AA