Yemen LNG Terminal

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Yemen LNG Terminal is an LNG terminal in Shabwah, Yemen. Due to war, operations have been halted since mid-2015.

Location

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Project Details

• Operator: Yemen LNG
• Owner: Yemen LNG
• Parent: Total (39.62%), Yemen Gas (16.73%), Hunt Oil (17.22%), SK Energy (9.55%), Korea Gas (6%), Hyundai (5.88%), Yemen’s General Authority for Social Security and Pensions (GASSP) 5%
• Location: Balhaf, Shabwah, Yemen
• Coordinates: 13.9812, 48.18115 (exact)
• Capacity: 6.7 mtpa, 0.96 bcfd (3.35 mtpa per train), 7.2 mtpa (3.6 mtpa per train)
• Status: Mothballed
• Type: Export
• Trains: 2
• Start Year:
  • T1: 2009
  • T2: 2010

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Yemen LNG Terminal is an LNG terminal in the Gulf of Aden coast in Shabwah, Yemen. It is Yemen’s largest industrial investment. The LNG has long-term customers in North America and South Korea. The terminal consists of two production trains.

Yemen LNG launched in 2005 with the capability to export 7.2 mtpa of LNG a year for 20 years. In 2015 Yemen LNG Terminal's exports were at 1.5 mtpa.

According to the International Gas Union's (IGU) "2019 World LNG Report," LNG exports from Yemen have been halted since mid-2015 due to the ongoing war.

According to the 2022 GIIGNL Annual Report, the terminal remains "stopped." The 2022 IGU report also states "Yemen LNG has not exported since 2015 due to an ongoing civil war."

Civil War and Military Intervention

Oil and gas once accounted for most of Yemen’s state revenue before a civil war beginning in 2015 and a Saudi Arabia military intervention in March and April 2015 targeting Houthi rebels stopped their export.

Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in the 2011 Arab spring unrest of 2011, backed the Houthi rebels.

Political instability caused exports to go offline in 2015 and 2016. The facility stopped production in early 2015, shut down in January 2016, and conducted a longer shut down in later in 2016 because of political instability and especially battle in the Shabwa province.

The company that runs the LNG announced early 2015 that production halts were due to Al Qaida militants who exploited the war against the now Iran-aligned Houthis to gain a stronghold in the Shabwa province.

The plant has increased security since early 2015.

The Houthis on April 2015 seized control of Ataq, the biggest town in Shabwa. Opposing tribes in Shabwa moved to protect the 199 mile (320km) pipeline connecting a gasfield in Mareb with the Yemen LNG as well as the LNG to prevent the Houthis from gaining control.

August 27, 2017 five Yemen soldiers were killed, and four wounded, when suspected Al Qaeda attacked an army soldiers guarding the gas pipeline transporting LNG from Marib to Yemen LNG facility.

In August 2017, Yemen deployed 30 United Arab Emirates trained Coast Guard to set up station in boats outside the LNG.