BALHAF, Yemen (AFP) - Yemen began exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its newly built LNG plant in Balhaf on the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, with the first shipment destined for South Korea.

In a hillside ceremony overlooking the coast, President Ali Abdullah Saleh inaugurated exports by pushing a button giving the order to start pumping LNG from the terminal to a vessel anchored offshore.

The South Korean LNG carrier Ecopia will load 147,000 cubic metres (5,145,000 cubic feet), according to Philippe Hennebelle, production manager at the plant which has France's Total as the main shareholder with a 39.6 percent stake.

"Six shipments are expected to leave before the end of the year," he told AFP.

The 4.5-billion-dollar (3-billion-euro) project, involving a 320-kilometre (200-mile) gas pipeline from Maarib in eastern Yemen, is the country's largest ever investment.

The plant aims to reach a total production capacity of 6.7 million tonnes of LNG a year, exporting to South Korea, Europe and North America.

Yemen, a small oil producer, is one of the world's poorest countries.

Its oil exports are tiny compared with neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Last year it produced less than 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil, and production is decreasing by five to six percent a year.