Yemen repairs attacked pipeline, oil flows again
Tribesmen bombed the Yemeni pipeline in December, halting oil flows to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea
Yemen has repaired its main oil pipeline in the country’s Marib province after it was attacked by tribesmen and crude is now flowing through the link, a provincial official said on Sunday.
Tribesmen bombed the pipeline in December, halting oil flows to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Yemeni troops have clashed with armed tribesmen blocking the repairs.
"Technical teams completed the process of repairing the oil pipeline and resumed pumping oil from the Safir fields in the afternoon," said provincial official Ali al-Fatmy.
An oil source told Reuters that the crude was reaching the export terminal.
Militants have bombed the pipeline repeatedly in the past three years in Yemen, which relies on crude exports to finance up to 70 percent of budget spending.
Tribesmen carry out such attacks to pressure the government to provide jobs, settle land disputes, or free relatives from prison.
Before a spate of attacks which began in 2011, the 270-mile Maarib pipeline carried around 110,000 barrels per day to Ras Isa.
