Gunmen attacked an oil pipeline in Yemen’s eastern province of Marib on Friday after repairs had been made from a previous sabotage.
A team of technicians had managed to repair the pipeline in the afternoon following mediation by tribal chiefs that allowed them to access the site, an engineer speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. Just hours later, gunmen attacked the pipeline causing new damage, tribal sources said.
The 320km pipeline links the eastern Safer oil fields with a floating export terminal on the Red Sea. Marib is a major Al-Qaeda stronghold.
The Yemeni army responded on Thursday by launching an offensive against tribesmen suspected of sabotaging the pipeline. A tribal source told AFP that the offensive was targeting Salah bin Hussein al-Dammaj, who has allegedly blown up the pipeline several times to pressure the authorities to pay him $480,000 in compensation for land he claims was taken from him in Sanaa.
According to official figures, lost production because of attacks on pipelines in the east cost the government more than $1 billion dollars in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 percent.
In July, Petroleum and Minerals Minister Hisham Abdullah said Yemen had lost more than $4 billion in revenue since February 2011 due to such attacks.
