The Aden branch of Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) has cut oil and diesel prices days after an oil shortage hit the southern coastal city and interim capital, an official in the company told Almasdar Online.

After meeting with the company's leadership, YPC’s Chairman of the board of directors Intisar Al-Arasha, reduced the price tag of two oil derivatives. 

One liter of gasoline will now cost 322 riyals, down from 380 riyals per liter, while a liter of diesel has fallen from 400 riyals to 353 riyals.

The oil shortage started last week when an armed group loyal to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) suspended oil-pumping from a ship belonging to prominent businessman Ahmed Al-Issi, who is close to Yemen president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi..

Saudi forces tried to intervene to restart the offloading of Al-Issa’s oil tanker at Aden’s Al-Zeit port. The gunmen, led by Abdul Nasser Al-Yafei, aka Abu Hammam, turned away the Saudi convoy. 

Since November, Saudi officials in Aden have struggled to implement a power-sharing deal, known as the Riyadh Agreement, which seeks to incorporate the STC into Hadi’s government in order to calm tensions between the two groups.