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| Arabia |
| Citizens Seize Yemen Oil Port, Motives Unclear |
| 2012-05-20 |
| [Yemen Post] Citizens seized the Ras Isa port in Yemen's western Hodeida province on Saturday, in a move which occurred in coordination with the brigade 82nd of the elite republican guard, Alahale reported, quoting local sources. A shipping source said the citizens pretended they were workers and when they came up they carried out their plot, the website said. "They held the staff and threatened to prevent them from food and care supplies and to destroy the port," the shipping source was quoted as saying, adding "the demands of the attackers are unclear". The citizens occupied the floating oil port of Ras Isa, especially the pressure reduction station 2, and the staff has been unable to leave the place, the sources were quoted as saying. In March, citizens seized the port and threatened to destroy it but the issue went unreported, the website said. The governor of Hodeida was reported to have coordinated the move amid reports President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi plans to issue a decree appointing a new governor, the website said. Other governorate officials and a number of the staff, about 30, were involved in seizing the port, which has been idle since the Marib pipeline stopped pumping crude from Marib and Shabwa provinces several months ago due to repeated attacks, it continued. Meantime, Hodeida governor is expected to announce his resignation within the coming hours, before Hadi replaces him, the website said. SEPOC is the operator of the Ras Isa port, one of the three Yemeni ports which export oil. The Ras Isa port exports crude to the Aden refinery to processed for local consumption. The port has 34 tanks with a storage capacity of 3 million barrels. The minimum pumping to oil tankers is about 15,000 barrels per hour and the maximum pumping is about 60,000 barrels per hour. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Yar - a pirates life... yar... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2012-05-20 00:25 |