Page 6 - MEOG Week 14

MEOG PIPeLInes & transPort MEOG
Yemen’s warring parties accuse each other of attacking pipeline
yemen
YEMEn’S warring factions have accused each other of attacking an oil pipeline pumping sta- tion in the central province of Marib, where clashes have raged for weeks and displaced tens of thousands of civilians.
The oil ministry of the internationally recog- nised, Saudi-backed government in Yemen said on Sunday that the Iran-aligned houthi group had targeted the Kofel pumping station, accord- ing to the Saudi state news agency.
however hussein al-Ezzi, an official in the houthi-controlled government based in the capital Sanaa since 2014, said Saudi-led coali- tion forces had attacked the station in what he described as a dangerous escalation.
Both sides gave no details of the reported attack, which both sides said took place on Saturday.
The pipeline is operated by the Yemeni gov- ernment-owned Safer oil company but no oil has been pumped through it for years.
Yemen’s oil output has collapsed since 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the war to try to restore the government of Abd-rabbu Mansour hadi to power after it was ousted by houthi forces in Sanaa.
The United nations and Western powers hope the threat posed by the global coronavirus
pandemic will push Yemen’s combatants into fresh talks to end a largely stalemated war that has left millions vulnerable to disease and starvation.
Meanwhile, in the central city of Taiz at least five women were killed and 28 people injured when shelling hit the woman’s section of Taiz’s main prison on Sunday, local officials and medi- cal sources told reuters.
The shelling came from the part of the divided city controlled by the houthis, they said.
Taiz, Yemen’s third-biggest city, is a front line in the conflict. A U.n.-mediated deal reached in Stockholm in December 2018 aimed to set up a committee to establish humanitarian corridors to the city, but little progress has been made so far.
The oil ministry of the internationally-rec- ognized, Saudi-aligned government in Yemen said on Sunday the Iran-aligned houthi group had attacked an oil pipeline pumping station in the province of Ma’rib, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
The pipeline is operated by the Safer oil com- pany, owned by Yemen’s Saudi-aligned govern- ment, the agency added, without giving details on the attack. A spokesman for the houthi group was not immediately reachable for comment.™
FInanCe & InVestment
Lebanon eases currency withdrawals, considers cannabis cultivation
Lebanon
LEBAnOn’S banks are to allow small deposi- tors with dollar-denominated accounts to with- draw money in the local currency.
Lebanon’s Central Bank on Friday said depos- itors with small dollar-denominated accounts would soon be able to withdraw - and in local currency - money that has been trapped in the Lebanese banking system for almost half a year.
The cash will be disbursed at a market rate set daily on an online platform.
A senior banking source told Al Jazeera that the platform is anticipated to be ready within a week to 10 days, at which point the new meas- ures are likely to go into effect.
The decision was made public in a circular released by Lebanon’s central bank. It will allow
people with accounts containing $3,000 or less to withdraw their money in Lebanese pounds at the market rate, which is substantially higher than the official rate.
The market rate on Friday stood at 2,800 Leb- anese pounds to the US dollar, compared with the official rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, according to a daily survey of exchange dealers across the country, published online.
Lebanon’s currency has been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 Lebanese pounds for 23 years, but began depreciating on parallel markets last summer due to unsustainable financial policies that came to grief under an acute dollar shortage.
The dollar shortage was the result of a dec- ade-long economic slump and a slowdown in
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 14 08•April•2020