Pipeline attack halts Yemen LNG

Sana'a: Yemen LNG, the liquefied natural gas exporter, said production was halted after an attack on a gas pipeline as fighting in the country's capital, Sana'a, left nine people dead.

The explosion on a line transporting fuel from a field to the Balhaf processing plant occurred at 12.30am yesterday, the company said in a statement. There were no injuries.

"The production has stopped but the loss of production is expected to be limited as the LNG plant was due to shut down on October 23 for annual maintenance," it said.

Attacks against the country's pipeline network have disrupted exports and caused nationwide shortages since protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh started this year.

The Al Shabwan tribe in March blew up part of the pipeline carrying oil from the central province of Marib to Ras Eisa, Yemen's main outlet for crude exports.

The government said it had to raise refined product prices until the line was repaired in July.

Biggest foreign investor

Total SA owns about 40 per cent of the Yemen LNG venture and is the project leader as well as a buyer of the fuel. The company is Yemen's biggest foreign investor.

Korea Gas Corp, which has agreed to buy 2 million tonnes a year of LNG from Yemen, owns 6 per cent of Yemen LNG. GDF Suez also has a long-term supply contract with the plant.

Sana'a was rocked by blasts and gunfire yesterday as forces loyal to Saleh battled tribes in northern parts of the city.

Dozens were wounded by live gunfire, including 12 who are in critical condition, Mohammad Al Qubati, a doctor at the field clinic of the protest camp, said.

Seven suspected Al Qaida militants were killed in overnight air strikes in the southern province of Shabwah, Yemen's defence ministry reported yesterday on its website.

Ebrahim Al Banna, an Egyptian national and a media officer for Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed by the bombing, the ministry said.

Hours after the strike against the suspected militants, unidentified people attacked a pipeline in the area, Mohammad Baodhah, a resident in the area, said yesterday.

Crude reserves

Yemen has the eighth-largest crude reserves in the Middle East and relies on oil sales for 90 per cent of its hard currency earnings, according to the US Energy Information Oil Administration.

Yemen pumped 260,000 barrels a day of crude last year, down from an estimated 286,000 barrels in 2009 and a 2001 peak of 440,000 barrels, according to the EIA.