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Yemen pipeline blown up

November 26, 2014

Armed tribes have attacked Yemen's main oil pipeline, halting the flow to a crucial export terminal. The country almost exclusively depends on its oil and gas shipments abroad to secure foreign currency.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Dtsp
A picture dated Nov. 22, 2005, shows the Safer refinery in Yemen's Marib province
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/epa Yahya Arhab

Saboteurs blew up Yemen's main oil export pipeline on Wednesday, interrupting flows of crude oil to a major export hub, the country's defense ministry said.

It was the latest assault on the country's main source of income, as Yemen relies on oil and gas exports for 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

The motive for the latest attack was not immediately clear, but previous acts of sabotage by tribesmen have targeted oil and other infrastructure in a bid to extract concessions from the central government.

The defense ministry said on its website, www.26sept.net, that the attack occurred in the area of Habab in Marib province.

Some 70,000 barrels are pumped through the Marib pipeline a day to Ras Isa, a crucial petroleum export terminal on the Red Sea.

According to government figures, attacks on infrastructure have cost the impoverished nation $4.5 billion (3.6 billion euros) between March 2011 and March 2013 alone.

hg/cjc (Reuters, AFP, dpa)