Total venture ships first LNG from $4.5 billion Yemen terminal

Yemen exported the first shipment from a $4.5 billion liquefied natural gas plant, gaining a new source of revenue as oil production declines.

After the terminal in Balhalf on the country’s Arabian Sea coast was officially opened by President Ali Abdallah Saleh, the Hyundai Ecopia set sail with a 147,000 cubic-meter cargo for Korea Gas Corp. of South Korea. Total SA of France, Europe’s third-largest oil company, owns 40 percent of the venture.

The terminal, Yemen’s largest industrial project, started production on Oct. 15 and will produce 6.7 million tons of LNG per year when fully operational. Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates also produce LNG, gas that is cooled until it becomes liquid and can then be transported by sea. Yemen pumps about 285,000 barrels of oil a day and is not a member of OPEC.

Other shareholders include Yemen Gas Co., Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co., South Korea’s SK Corp., Korea Gas Corp., Hyundai Corp. and Yemen’s General Authority for Social Security and Pensions.

The second cargo will be shipped to “the Atlantic market,” Yves-Louis Darricarrere, Total’s head of exploration and production, said in an interview at the opening ceremony, without naming the recipient country.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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