SANAA, Yemen, April 1 (UPI) -- Yemen says a pipeline was damaged by a "technical fault" and not a terrorist attack as had been previously reported.
An official in Yemen's Oil Ministry told the Platts energy information service an alleged incident on a pipeline last Thursday was not terrorist-related.
Yemen's oil production is around 300,000 barrels per day, and not expected to increase for another two years. It's a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalism.
The SITE Intelligence Group said a jihadist Web site it monitors took credit for bombing a pipeline in central Yemen, operated by Total of France.
"Investigations on the incident are still being conducted and nothing official has been announced yet," the official told Platts. "It appeared according to the preliminary indications that it is a technical fault in the pipeline."
The Jund al-Yemen Brigade has also claimed responsibility for other terrorist attacks in Yemen, including a March 18 explosion at a girl's school.
Yemen's oil sector has also come under fire before.
"Since the attacks on the USS Cole in 2000, several other foreign interests, specifically oil interests, have been attacked," according to the Yemen report by the Energy Information Administration, the data arm of the U.S. Energy Department. "These include the bombing of the Limburg oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, causing a massive fire and the leakage of 150,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden; an unsuccessful firing of a surface-to-air missile at an oil company helicopter in 2002; the 2006 foiled suicide bomb attempt against two oil facilities just prior to the elections; and the more recent attacks on oil company personnel near the border between Marib and Shabwa governorates. In addition, there have been reports of violence in rural areas, attacks on oil company personnel and kidnappings."
