Total evacuated expatriate staff from Yemen sites

PARIS (Reuters) - French oil major Total said it had evacuated all expatriate staff from Sanaa and Kharir in Yemen, although the sites have not been hit by an overnight military raid by Saudi-led forces against Houthi forces. "All necessary measures are in place in order to ensure maximum security conditions for the people remaining," a spokeswoman said in an email to Reuters on Monday. Total said operations on Yemen's Block 10 have been reduced, with gas production maintained only for local power generation and to supply neighbouring communities. Technical support is provided to the site from Dubai, she added. "As a shareholder of YLNG (Yemen LNG), we know that the staff number on site (local and expatriate) has been reduced to the minimum necessary and the security measures continue to be maintained at maximum level," the spokeswoman said. Sources told Reuters on Sunday that exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the 6.7 million-tonnes-a-year Yemen LNG plant operated by Total were running as normal. The plant in Balhaf lies about 400 kilometres east along the coast from Aden. (Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Sybille de La Hamaide)