Attack on Yemen pipeline halts oil shipment

A bomb attack on an  oil pipeline in Yemen's Ma'rib governorate halted shipment of oil to the country's main hub in the southern Port ofAden. Unknown armed assailants blew up the pipeline early Saturday, the biggest of such attacks in the past weeks on the country's oil pipelines, security sources said, adding that a huge explosion rocked the area which sent black clouds of smoke into the skies. Government sources have said the latest attacks on Yemen's oil grid caused a daily loss of $15 million. Oil production constitutes 70 percent of Yemen's national income and 63 percent of its exports. The country produced 400,000 barrels of oil per day prior to the February 2011 revolution, whereas the current production stands around 300,000 barrels per day.