Yemen LNG exports first shipment of natural gas to South Korea

Yemen LNG begins on Saturday exporting its first shipment of natural gas, a load of 149,000 cubic meters via Korean ship, said Amir al-Aidarous, Minister of Oil and Minerals. The second shipment will be even larger, 169,000 cubic meters, transferred via YLNG vessel Arwa, from the terminal of Belhaf.

Al-Aidarous said that the Belhaf project sends a message to the world: Yemen is a land of opportunities for investment and puts Yemen on the international map of gas providers, making Yemen one of the sources of clean power to main markets in North America, South Korea, and others future markets.

The Belhaf project will create direct job opportunities for around 10,000 Yemenis. This is in addition to a wide range of working and qualification opportunities for local companies in all of its stages. It is expected that Yemenis who work on this project will total 90% of the labor force for Yemen LNG by 2015.

"The start of LNG production from the LNG terminal in Balhaf is a major milestone achievement and is the outcome of a strong and successful partnership between the Yemeni government and the project international shareholders, enjoying the full and direct support of the political leadership of Yemen for such a major strategic project which we consider a success story ought to be followed," said declared Minister of Oil and Minerals and Yemen LNG Board Chairman, al-Aidarous. 

The Yemen LNG project is the largest and most important investment ever made in Yemen with a total investment of about $4.5 billion USD. The project consists of extracting gas from Block 18 in the Marib province in central Yemen and pumping it through 320 kilometers of dedicated pipeline to the LNG plant located at the port of Balhaf on the southern coast. The plant has begun production using the first train while construction of the second train is being completed. The total production capacity is expected to reach 6.7 million tons of LNG per year.

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