Aden company receives Yemeni crude oil

The first batch of Yemeni crude oil has arrived at Aden's refinery company after shipments were halted for about nine months due to repeated attacks on pipelines in the oil-producing Marib province, a government official told Xinhua Monday. After a nine-month halt, the first shipment of 15,000 tons from the Marib oil pipeline, which carries crude to the Ras Isa export terminal on the Red Sea coast, has successfully arrived at Aden's refinery company late Sunday night, the local government official said on condition of anonymity. "The government used military forces to protect oil pipelines in Marib... This appropriate way enabled us to resume sending oil shipment and to keep crude oil flowing in despite threats from tribesmen and terrorist groups to bomb them again," the government official said. "Oil exports from the Marib fields to foreign nations will be resumed soon," he added. The official gave no details of when the exports may start. Earlier this month, the Yemeni authorities completed the repair of the Marib pipeline, one of the main national resources which brings in about 3 billion U.S. dollars a year. The 272-mile pipeline carries about 110,000 barrels a day from Marib and Shabwa to the Ras Isa terminal in the Red Sea. It was repeatedly attacked since unrest broke out in the country last year and its shutdown cost the country about 4 billion dollars in revenues and fuel import spending. Officials said the army and security authorities have drawn up a special plan to protect this pipeline.