Yemen stops oil flows after unidentified attackers target a section of the country’s main pipeline. (File photo)
Yemen has halted its oil flows again following an incident where unknown assailants blew up a section of the country’s main crude pipeline in a bomb attack.
A Yemeni Oil Ministry official said on Thursday that the bombing of the pipeline “made us stop the crude pumping from the fields to the export terminal.”
On December 31, 2012, Yemen resumed oil pumping at a rate of around 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) after the latest repairs to the Maarib pipeline, which used to carry around 110,000 bpd before a wave of attacks began in 2011.
However, unidentified assailants attacked the pipeline again by placing a roadside bomb near a section of it in the Serwah area of the central province of Maarib, only 10 days after the flows restarted.
Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged in recent months. Armed groups targeted gas pipelines feeding the Balhaf terminal in October, September, August, May and March 2012.
Yemen’s economy depends on oil and gas production, with petroleum exports accounting for more than 60 percent of the country’s budget.
MKA/HSN
