Armed tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline on Wednesday halting the flow to the export terminal on the Red Sea coast, tribal sources and an industry official said.

The 435-kilometre (270-mile) pipeline, which links the Safir oil fields, in Marib province, east of the capital, to the Ras Isa terminal, near the port of Hodeida, has been a repeated target of sabotage.

The latest attack hit a section of pipeline in the Sarwah district of Marib, tribal sources told AFP.

It brought the flow to a "complete halt", an industry official said.

The motive for the latest sabotage was not immediately clear.

But Yemen's heavily armed tribes frequently target oil and other infrastructure in a bid to extract concessions from the central government.

Yemen is a minor producer but relies on oil and gas exports for 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

Attacks on infrastructure cost the impoverished country $4.75 billion over the two years from March 2011 to March 2013, according to government figures.