OREANDA-NEWS.  Yemen may be preparing to export its first crude in over a year.

Chinese state-controlled trading firm Unipec is enquiring after a very large crude carrier (VLCC) — capable of carrying up to 2mn bl — to load at the Ash Shihr export terminal around 26 May for a voyage to China.

The move suggests output has resumed at Yemen's Marib and Masila fields, after being halted last year as conflict in the country intensified. But last month a Saudi-led coalition took the city of Mukalla and adjacent territory — including Ash Shihr — from terrorist group al Qaeda, coalition partner the UAE said.

Yemen's output was 180,000 b/d in 2014. Most of its crude exports traditionally headed east, but China has not received any Yemeni crude since April 2015, with the exception of 32,000 b/d imported in October 2015, Argus data show.