A fire broke out in a reservoir of Aden oil refinery in southern Yemen on Friday evening, an official said, adding that it was a result of "sabotage".
"The reservoir where the fire broke out contains a small quantity of oil derivatives. The civil defense is seeking to block the fire and not expand it to the neighboring oil and diesel reservoirs of the power stations within the Saudi grant," a refinery official told AFP.
The official said that the fire that broke out in one of the tanks and spread to one of the pipes "resulted from an explosion and is likely a subversive action by subversive elements."
For his part, a security source said that the security forces "prevented all workers from going out and opened an investigation into the incident after preliminary information that the fire as a result of an explosion and sabotage."
The refinery was damaged by fighting in 2015 between government forces and Houthi rebels.
It was resumed in 2016 after a break of more than a year.
The suspension of work at the refinery led to a severe shortage of oil derivatives in Aden and an interruption in electricity supply after the depletion of the inventory of the power plant.
Oil production in Yemen was modest even before the conflict began, but export revenues contributed to the public treasury´s revenue.
Fighting between the Huthis backed by Iran and the right-wing forces began in 2014 and saw an upsurge in 2015 when Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia with the Huthis dominating large parts of the country.
Since then, about 10,000 people have died in the war, according to the World Health Organization, although human rights groups say the actual death toll could be five times that.
