LONDON: Yemen is seeking to import four cargoes of gasoline in January via a tender, traders said on Friday. The country's largest refinery was forced to stop production in mid-November after a pipeline attack cut off its crude oil supplies. An official at the refinery said the company was conducting negotiations outside Yemen to secure alternative supplies. Traders who supply fuel to Yemen and shipping sources said the impoverished country faces a repeat of last summer, when three months of pipeline and refinery shutdowns caused a fuel shortage and deadly petrol station fights. Angry tribesmen blew up the pipeline in mid-March and prevented repair work, causing severe fuel shortages. The refinery went back to production in July after Saudi Arabia donated 3 million barrels of oil to Yemen. The poorest Arab country has been paralyzed by 10 months of popular protests, and fighting continues there despite plans for a transition away from outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule.
