The government of Yemen has approved the development plan for the Yemen LNG liquefied natural gas project. The shareholders in Yemen LNG, for which Total is the leader (42.9%), will build a liquefaction plant in the port of Balhaf on the southern coast of Yemen, around 200 kilometers from Mukalla. The construction contracts will be awarded in the coming days.

The plant will have two trains with a combined capacity of 6.7 million metric tons a year and will be supplied with gas from Block 18 located in the central Marib region, around 180 kilometers east of Sana’a. The gas will be transported to the plant by a 38-inch, 320-kilometer pipeline.

Yemen LNG has signed three long-term (20 year) sale and purchase agreements for the plant’s output—one with Suez LNG Trading for 2.5 million metric tons a year, one with Kogas for 2 million metric tons a year and one with Total Gas & Power Ltd. for 2 million metric tons a year.

The Yemen LNG liquefaction plant is scheduled for commissioning in late 2008.

“Yemen LNG is part of Total’s strategy of growing its LNG production by an average of 10% a year to 2010. The Group already has interests in six liquefaction plants worldwide, including three in the Middle East. The new project will strengthen Total’s position as a leading LNG operator and producer in the Middle East,” says Christophe de Margerie, President, Exploration & Production at Total.

The Yemen LNG shareholders are the Yemeni government, represented by Yemen Gas Company (23.10%), Total (42.90%), Hunt Oil Company (18%) and South Korea’s SK Corporation (10%) and Hyundai Corporation (6%). Under the agreements with Kogas, the utility will acquire a 6% interest in Yemen LNG in the near future.