(RIA Novosti) - Yemen sent on Saturday its first liquefied natural gas shipment (LNG), the Saba news agency reported.

The cargo - 149,000 cubic meters of LNG from an LNG plant in Balhaf on the Arabian Sea - will go to South Korea's Korea Gas Corp.

The plant went into operation in mid-October and will produce 6.7 million tons of LNG a year when it reaches full capacity.

The $4.5 billion project, the country's largest economic project, is expected to help boost Yemen's economic and industrial development.

France's Total is the main shareholder in the project with 39.62%; other shareholders include Hunt Oil Company (17.22%), the Yemen LNG Company (16.73%), the Social Insurance and Salary Authority (5%), the S. Korean SK Corporation (9.55%), the S. Korean Gas Corporation KOGAS (6%) and the Hyundai Company (5.88%).