Officials confirmed on Saturday "unidentified armed men attacked Ruddum oil pipeline," which lied 34km north of Balhaf, Yemen main LNG point of export. The explosion said onlookers led a massive fire, with flames tunneling above the site.
A series of attack against the country oil infrastructures already cost the state well over $500 and deterred several foreign investors from coming to Yemen, under the label of "too greater risk."
Despite the presence of the military in the area and President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi's warnings he would deal with saboteurs harshly, militias have continued to target oil pipelines in Shabwa and Mareb provinces, undeterred.
Back in 2011 and 2012 when the pipelines were first targeted, the public immediately accused the former regime, arguing deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh had ordered his thugs to paralyze the country's main source of income to prove he was the only man able to maintain order.
But whether Yemen's former strong man did indeed ordered his men to systematically disrupt the oil and gas industry, the state has proven unable to curb the trend, having used up all its options -- negotiations, air strike, threats and conciliations --
With analysts claiming Yemen is hiding under its belly larger reserves of oil - maybe more than its oil giant of a neighbour Saudi Arabia - the stake is ever more so high and the need for stability that much dire.
A strong and stable oil and gas industry would allow Yemen to bankroll its economic recovery and ensure that the millions of people who are now living under the poverty line would have a brighter future.