As IOCs – including OMV and Indonesia’s Medco Enerji (MEES, 17 May) – slowly trickle back into Yemen’s oil sector despite the ongoing conflict, speculation has increased over when Total, which operates the mothballed 6.7mn t/y Yemen LNG facility, will return to the country.

Not so soon, says Philippe Sauquet, president of gas, renewables and power at the French supermajor. “This one is clear for us: as long as Yemen is at war Total will not restart operations in a country at war,” he told MEES in Paris this week. (CONTINUED - 169 WORDS)