05 December 2012
Yemeni authorities and business community bid farewell to the Yemen LNG General Manager Francois Rafin and welcomed successor Jacques Azibert at a luncheon on 4th of December. Jacques Azibert will take over from Francois Rafin on 1st January 2013.

The event was attended by the shareholders of Yemen LNG, the Ministry of Oil and Minerals and the Ministry of Defense, the ambassadors of France, Egypt, Japan, Algeria and Lebanon, the Head of the National Security Agency, the Governor of Shabwa, the Deputy Governor of Marib, former Governors and former Ministers and by many Yemeni entrepreneurs and chief executives of Yemeni businesses.

In his address, Arnaud Breuillac, President of Total Middle East and lead shareholder of Yemen LNG, thanked Francois Rafin for having solidly installed Yemen amongst the small club of LNG exporters, in spite of all the difficulties that the country has met in the recent years. Breuillac noted that it would now cost 3 to 4 times more to build a project like Yemen LNG and that this investment was made at the right time before the LNG world price increase. The perspectives of income for the Country are now very robust and the expected Government income over the duration of the Gas Development Agreement have doubled and are currently estimated at 60 billion US dollars.

Francois Rafin noted that he first worked for the Yemen LNG project in 1995 and he recognized that the merit for this successful project was shared by the thousands of Yemeni and foreign workers and engineers who took part over two decades. The robustness of Yemen LNG is well known in Yemen and outside Yemen and in the better times to come, Yemen LNG will rank at the highest international level in the LNG industry. Rafin paid special tribute to the Ministry of Defense and to the Governors of Shabwa and Marib for ensuring the security of the personnel and of the assets even at the most difficult of times in the past. He praised the steering role of the Minister of Oil and Minerals and the contribution of Safer as operator of Block18 and also that of the many Yemeni contractors and workers. He underlined the importance of the LNG trade between Yemen and the Asian and European clients, greeting the Ambassadors present. He said he would come back to visit Yemeni friends and gave his heart-felt wishes to the Country on its path to a better future.

Jacques Azibert noted his pleasure to take the position of General Manager on 1st January and his desire to continue the work of his six predecessors.