Dubai (Platts)--30Jul2007

Yemeni authorities have blamed a group linked with Al Qaeda for blowing
up an oil tanker last week, resulting in its complete destruction, the Yemen
Times bi-weekly newspaper reported Monday. 

     The armed group fired a missile at the tanker in the al-Irqeen area
between Safir and Marib, with the resulting fire and explosion completely
destroying the tanker. 

     The attack comes less than a month after an Al Qaeda linked suicide
bomber plowed his car into a group of tourists visiting an ancient temple in
Marib, killing eight Spaniards and two Yemenis. 

     Yemen's Specialized Penal Court is currently hearing a case against a
group of defendants also linked with al-Qaeda charged with attempting to
launch simultaneous suicide attacks by driving bomb-laden vehicles into oil
and gas facilities in the Dhabah area of Hadramout and the Safir area in Marib
in September last year.

     According to the evidence, the suspects attacked the Safir Oil Refinery
in the Marib governorate and an oil tank in al-Dhabah region of Hadramout,
killing a bodyguard of the oil tank and causing damage to both facilities.
     The al-Awalebe tribe in the south of Yemen, meanwhile, is reported to
have seized 12 oil and gas tankers and distributed their contents among the
area's retail outlets. 

     The tribe, from an area between Abyan and Shabwa, seized the tankers in
an effort to force the authorities to free tribal members jailed at the
al-Mansourah prison or have them relocated to the Abyan prison. 

     Yemen currently pumps about 380,000 b/d of crude oil from proven oil
reserves of 2.9 billion barrels.