Reuters reports that Yemeni tribesmen attacked the main oil export pipeline on Wednesday, stopping the flow of crude oil.
Pipelines in Yemen have been attacked several times by feuding tribesmen, notably after mass protests within the government left a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and weakening export earnings for the country.
Yemen claims oil flows through the Marib pipeline, one of the main petroleum export routes, at a rate of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). The pipeline carries crude from the Marib fields in central Yemen to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. Before the constant attacks, the 270-mine (435-km) pipeline carried 110,000 barrels per day to Ras Isa, as Reuters reports.
Heavily-armed tribes attack the pipeline to coerce the government to provide jobs, settle land disputes, or free prisoners.
