Yemen

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Reuters reports that crude oil flows resumed on Saturday through Yemen's main oil pipeline after the link which had been shut since an attack by tribespeople in March was fixed on Friday, shipping sources said.

"They started pumping crude yesterday evening," one Yemen-based shipping source said on Sunday. "It looks like the repairs have been going on for some time."

Yemen's main oil pipeline, which carries around 110,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) of light Maarib crude from Maarib oil fields to the Ras Isa export terminal, had been shut since mid-March when angry tribespeople demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh attacked it.

The lack of crude supply also forced the country's Aden refinery to shut, triggering a fuel shortage in the impoverished country and oil donations from neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Yemeni crude pumped by the pipeline is usually shipped on oil tankers from the Ras Isa terminal in the Red Sea to the Aden refinery on the Gulf of Aden.

The first shipment of Yemeni crude from Ras Isa to the Aden refinery since the repairs were completed is expected to be sent later this week, another shipping source said.

"The pipeline has just started pumping. We need a sufficient level of crude accumulating in the tanks before shipping it elsewhere," he said.

Most of Maarib oil goes to Aden refinery which produces oil products for domestic consumption. Only a small percentage of Maarib is exported abroad from Ras Isa.

The Aden refinery, which has a capacity of 150,000 bpd, resumed production after Saudi crude was delivered in mid-June.