Yemen main oil pipeline to be repaired in few days

Source: Reuters,03/07/2011

 Yemen will repair a damaged oil pipeline in coming days, the country's acting president was quoted as saying by the state news agency on Sunday.

Yemen's main oil pipeline has been shut since an attack by tribesmen in mid-March, while another standing empty since the March incident was blown up last week.

"The repair of the oil pipeline will be carried out within the coming days in addition to the import of big quantities of import of crude oil and products," Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said during a meeting with Britain's ambassador to Yemen.

The state news agency gave no further details.

A Yemeni official told Reuters last week the government was considering a military operation to take control of the area if local tribesmen did not allow the main Marib crude pipeline to be repaired soon.

The lack of oil flowing from fields in the Maarib province has forced Yemen's Aden refinery to halt, cut the poorest Arab country's revenues and forced it to import more costly fuel.

The loss of light, sweet Yemeni crude has also further squeezed global supplies of easily-refined oil after light Libyan exports were stopped in February.

Political leaders both for and against Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh's embattled government have accused each other of backing armed tribesmen to act as saboteurs.

Saleh is recovering in Riyadh from injuries sustained in a June assassination attempt.