Unidentified gunmen blow up Yemen export gas pipeline

Unidentified attackers early Tuesday blew up a pipeline pumping liquefied gas to Yemen’s southern Balhaf export terminal, causing a complete halt in operations, a security official said on Tuesday.

“Unknown gunmen blew up the gas pipeline... at Station 5, in the village of Zahira, in the Shabwa province,” said provincial security chief brigadier-general Ahmed Omeir.

He said the attack took place around 1:00 am Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday).

France’s Total has an almost 40 percent interest in the Balhaf plant.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged since anti-government protests created a power vacuum in 2011 that armed groups have exploited, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country.

The 320-kilometre (200-mile) pipeline linking Marib province to Balhaf, in Yemen’s mostly lawless south, has been repeatedly sabotaged by al-Qaeda militants who remain active in region.

On May 13, suspected al-Qaeda militants blew up the pipeline near Mayfaa, also in Shabwa, nearly three weeks after it was sabotaged on April 26, shortly after it was repaired following a similar March attack.

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

In May, a French security official working for Total was wounded and a Yemeni soldier killed when gunmen attacked their car in Sayun in the eastern province of Hadramawt.

Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen has exploited the decline in central government control that accompanied Arab Spring-inspired protests that eventually forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power in February.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants had captured Zinjibar, Jaar, Shuqra and other towns across Abyan, but government forces in May launched an all-out offensive and recaptured the towns the following month.