3RD OIL AND MINERALS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN SANA'A

SANA'A, Nov. 24 (Saba) - Ministry of Oil and Minerals has approved
holding the 3rd Conference of Oil and Minerals in Sana'a next June.

The conference organizes by the Oil and Minerals Ministry in
collaboration with IIRMI Company. It aims at promoting the
investment opportunities in fields of oil, minerals and gas in the
country.

General Director of Oil and Minerals Information in the Ministry
Abdul-Qawi al-Udaini said that the Ministry has received many
requests from Arab and international oil companies to invest in
Yemen, particularly in the field of petrochemicals.

On the other hand, al-Udaini said that Oil Minister has approved
that the Italian company "ENI" instead of "Burn Energy" would
explore in the block No. 17 in governorates of Aden, Abyan and Lahj
and block No. 6 in governorates of Shabwa and Jawf.

He also pointed out that the investment in the oil sector has
witnessed an increase particularly after the inauguration of the
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project later in November.

ENI is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70
countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a
market capitalization of € 87.7 billion euros (US$138 billion), as
of July 24, 2008.

The Italian Government owns a 30% golden share in the company.

MD/AF