Yemen LNG, run by France's Total, has resumed normal operations three weeks after a bombing at the Marib-Balhaf gas pipeline forced it to stop operations as well as production.

"Yemen LNG company confirms that it has restarted normal operations on April 21," the company said in a statement.

Al Qaeda militants on March 30 bombed the pipeline, which feeds the terminal with natural gas from Block 18 in Marib, as vengeance to a U.S. drone attack conducted hours earlier that killed five suspected al Qaeda militants.

France's Total leads the Balhaf liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Its six partners include state and foreign companies. The shutdown had cancelled six LNG cargoes but Yemen LNG committed to fast track production to make up for the cancelled cargoes by yearend.

Meanwhile, security around Yemen's gas and oil projects has been tightened, with the Yemeni government determined to rid all areas seized by al Qaeda militants.

Quoting "well-informed military sources," the Yemen Post said the federal government on Sunday had ordered that military operations against al Qaeda militants be expanded in the southern and southeastern regions, as well as send more troops to guard the gas and oil projects in Shabwa and Marib provinces.

Yemen's Interior Ministry reportedly received information stating the al Qaeda militants had prepared six car bombs and six suicide bombers to attack the Balhaf LNG terminal in Shabwa.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged since anti-government protests in 2011 created a power vacuum that militants have exploited, Reuters News reported.

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