Power outages in Aden have increased to four hours in the past two days, local authorities in the southern port city told Almasdar Online.

The amount of daily electricity available to residents has decreased over the past two days from four hours to two-and-a-half hours as the fuel crisis for the city's power plants worsens.

Residents in the city of Khormaksar, east of Aden, told Almasdar Online that the number of hours of available power has dropped again after nearly a month-and-a-half of stability in the service following months of escalating power outages last summer.

In August, the pro-secession Southern Transitional Council seized control of Aden from the internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia intervened in the clashes and negotiated a power sharing deal, known as the Riyadh agreement, which incorporates the separatists into the government and maps out a plan to restore peace to surrounding governorates.

A ship carrying fuel for the electricity is nearing Aden, according to a source at the local authority, but indicated that the ship has not entered the port yet.

The escalating power outages come about a week after the head of the internationally recognized government, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, returned to Aden as part of the implementation of the Riyadh agreement, which stipulates that a new government be formed by January 5, 2020.