08 June 2015
Yemen LNG concluded its participation to the World Gas Conference (WGC), which took place in Paris, France, from 1-5 June 2015.
Uniting over more than 3,500 delegates from 91 countries, representing 95 percent of the global gas market, as well as over 5,000 trade visitors, the WGC is the world's biggest global gas event to take place this year, attracting global gas and energy leaders from around the world.

The conference addressed the recent developments in the energy sector, with a prime focus on the sustainable growth of the global gas industry.

Two Yemen LNG presentations were given during the conference.
The first paper addressed challenges associated with public acceptance of natural gas projects. It was titled, "overcoming stakeholder relations' challenges in a complex socio-economic environment in Yemen".

It is worth mentioning that one of the topics that was repeatedly mentioned in several speeches and presentations at the conference was the public acceptance of gas projects over the world. Statistics show that out of 190 projects, 140 were either delayed or cancelled as a result of non-public acceptance. Very little was however mentioned on the methodology used to obtain public acceptance. Yemen LNG’s presentations specifically focussed on the methodology the Company followed to gain public acceptance in an environment where people live under very difficult socio-economic and socio-political circumstances.
Jeanette Rascher, CRSD Senior Social Consultant, highlighted in her paper that the Company invested in the development and implementation of a Social Management Plan.

The plan defines:
• A Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan that includes various tools and techniques to efficiently and effectively communicate with various stakeholder groups.
• Two 5-year Sustainable Community Development Strategies developed and implemented in collaboration with various stakeholders, especially the Company’s neighbouring communities in the coastal area close to the Balhaf Plant and along the 320km pipeline.
• A Resettlement Action Plan to ensure compensation, livelihood restoration and reinstatement .

Based on Yemen LNG’s successes to obtain a social licence to operate, the paper shed light on the fact that external auditors consider Yemen LNG’s achievements to be a benchmark and global model for stabilization efforts in a conflict risk socio-political context.

The second paper, titled “Empowering local talent to operate a world-class LNG plant”, focused on the methods established and implemented by Yemen LNG to build a national workforce that was ready for the commissioning and start-up phases of the Balhaf plant and that is able to operate what became today the most advanced industrial plant ever built in Yemen.

Presented by Esam Al-Ghorbani, Head of Public Relations, the paper underscored the various measures undertaken by Yemen LNG to ensure early access to talent, including training of young technicians, training and recruitment of marine cadets, and development of employees through intensive training programs to maintain motivation and engagement, leading as a result to a high Yemenization rate of close to 90% only after five years of production, despite the highly technical nature of the industry and the limited LNG experience in Yemen.