Last year political turmoil in Yemen caused the GCC to step in and broker a deal which called for the president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down and hand power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Since that time militant groups have led repeated attacks against oil pipelines costing the Middle Eastern nation an estimated $4 billion in revenues.
The Safer-Ras Issa pipeline has been the target of the attacks. It is the main pipe for carrying oil from the Marib fields, and has been in operation since February 2011.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, and has a production capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. The $4 billion in lost revenue would have been very important for developing the nation.
Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, the Minister for Petroleum and Minerals, warned the state Saba news agency that, "the halting of oil production from the Safer-Ras Issa pipeline will almost destroy the economic potential of Yemen."
The government and political leaders are doing all they can to repair and reopen the pipeline before the start of Ramadan near the end of July.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More