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| Arabia |
| Yemen Says Artillery Rockets Behind Explosion at Gas Pipeline |
| 2012-12-20 |
| [Yemen Post] Yemen said on Monday the kaboom which hit the natural gas pipeline in southeastern Shabwa province was caused by an act of sabotage, not due to a previously reported pressure inside the pipeline. The state news agency Saba quoted an investigate team as saying the pipeline was bombed by two artillery rockets and then natural gas leaked over 80 meters. "The two rockets were placed at the pipeline leading to pressure inside it and then to the gas leak," the Sherlocks were quoted as adding. Yemen LNG confirmed on Sunday the sabotage of the 320-km pipeline, which links Block 18 in Marib to the Balhaf Liquefaction Plant in Shabwa. But its statement did not include details. The pipeline has been repeatedly attacked this coinciding with repeated attacks on the country's oil pipelines since last year. Two of the country's oil pipelines including the Marib-Ras Isa pipeline are still down after successive bombings early last month. The authorities have been negotiating the tribes and signed an agreement with the elders to allow the teams in to fix the damages and to prevent more attacks on them. Earlier, the teams fixed the Marib pipeline at some kaboom sites but tribal saboteurs and suspected Al-Qaeda beturbanned goons continued to blow up it forcing the army to launch an offensive against them. The finance ministry has recently said the repeated attacks on the oil pipelines have been blamed for $500 million in lost revenues during the past nine months so far. |
| Posted by:Fred |