Yemen oil refinery halts production

An oil refinery in Yemen has had to stop operations due to a lack of crude oil supplies, it has been revealed.

The Aden oil refinery admitted that production had been stopped on Saturday (November 19th) after an attack on a supply pipeline caused supplies of crude oil to cease.

Fuel shortages are likely as a result of the end to production, but the official claimed that the organisation has had to cope with crude shortages for many months and had previously cut daily production from 150,000 barrels to just 40,000 barrels as a result.

"But we had to stop … after supplies ran out," the official told Reuters.

Protests about the reign of President Ali Abdullah Saleh have impacted the production of oil in the country, with the latest attack thought to be the fifth on the pipeline in less than three months.

According to CNN, the Yemeni public have been unable to buy petroleum products from petrol stations since July, forcing many to turn to the black market where fuel prices have rocketed by 300 per cent.

Posted by Joseph Hutton