Yemen tribesmen blow up oil export pipeline

SANAA: Armed tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline Wednesday, halting the flow to the export terminal on the Red Sea coast, tribal sources and an industry official said.

The 435-kilometer pipeline, which links the Safir oil fields, in Marib province, east of the capital, to the Ras Isa terminal, near the port of Hodeida, has been a repeated target of sabotage.

The latest attack hit a section of pipeline in the Sarwah district of Marib, tribal sources told AFP.

It brought the flow to a "complete halt," an industry official said.

The motive for the latest sabotage was not immediately clear.

But Yemen's heavily armed tribes frequently target oil and other infrastructure in a bid to extract concessions from the central government.

Yemen is a minor producer but relies on oil and gas exports for 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

Attacks on infrastructure cost the impoverished country $4.75 billion over the two years from March 2011 to March 2013, according to government figures.

 

Advertisement

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Nov-26/278953-yemen-tribesmen-blow-up-oil-export-pipeline.ashx