Dubbed a failed state by its neighbors, Yemen is the Gulf poorest cousin, with over 40% of its population living under the poverty line, hundreds of thousands of IDPs - Internally Displaced People - and an arm per people ratio to send shivers down the spine of any good Texan. Already on the verge of economic collapse before 2011 uprising, Yemen was literally brough down to its knees by the Arab Spring movement; forced to seek solace in its allies' generosity.

With several millions of oil and gas barrels tagged for export to its name, Yemen one would think should be like its rich neighbors, laughing in the face of world recession and cashing out on its underground riches. However, decades of corruption and mis-management prevented the country from benefiting of such valuable resources.

Interestingly the former regime, led by deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh and more recently the transition government in the person of former Oil Minister Hisham Sharaf went on the record, pinning Yemen's economic hues on its dwindling natural resources, warning that within a decade or so the country's wells would be all but dried out.

Several specialists have often refuted such statements, maps and reports in hand, claiming the government was only trying to hide Yemen's remarkable oil and gas resources as such a discovery could eclipse Saudi Arabia as the world biggest oil exporter with an average production of 10 millions barrels per day.

Numerous Yemeni journalist claim to have heard Sky News - British-based television channel - report that Yemen directly sits on the world largest oil reserve, with a pocket stretching from Yemen northern territories up to its border with Saudi Arabia and a depth approaching 1800 meters.

If indeed Yemen was to hide in its belly such untapped riches one can only speculate on what foreign powers would be willing to do to guarantee access, especially in the light of Iran's oil embargo and the West ever growing need for cheap and reliable energy.