Yemen LNG Pipeline To Be Repaired In A Week

A gas pipeline feeding Yemen’s only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal will take around a week to be repaired following an attack on it last week, the country’s oil minister was quoted as saying.

The 320-km (200-mile) gas pipeline that links block 18 to the Belhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden was attacked on Oct. 31.

Technical teams were immediately sent to repair the damage, and believe the work can be finished in about a week, state news agency Saba quoted oil and minerals minister Ahmed Dares as saying late on Saturday.

“The government is working to take a series of measures to secure the oil installations and to prevent any future acts or risk,” said Dares. He did not elaborate on the new steps.

Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have been sabotaged repeatedly since anti-government protests last year created a power vacuum which armed groups exploited, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings in the impoverished country.

The 38-inch (96.5-centimetre) pipeline supplying the $4.5-billion plant has been attacked several times by suspected al Qaeda-linked gunmen after military strikes on Islamist militants.

The Balhaf facility, which opened in 2009, has the capacity to supply up to 6.7 million tonnes and delivers LNG, gas-cooled to liquid for export by ship, under long-term contracts to GDF Suez, Total and Korea Gas Corp.