UN wants to save oil tankers from Yemen - "Risk of a massive oil spill"

Created: 05/11/2022, 22:11

By: Patrick Huljina

The neglected oil tanker "Safer" has been lying off the coast of Yemen for years.

(Archive image) © environmental organization Holm Akhdar/dpa

The oil tanker "Safer" off the coast of Yemen is a floating time bomb.

The UN warn of an environmental catastrophe and want to start a rescue operation.

Sanaa/The Hague - The oil tanker "Safer" is rusting away in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

On board: 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.

The tanker has been used as a floating oil storage facility since the 1980s.

In 2015, civil war broke out in Yemen.

At that time, the state oil company SEPOC stopped the expensive maintenance, and in 2016 the "Safer" was decommissioned.

Now a major environmental catastrophe is imminent.

Yemen: Floating time bomb off the coast - "Risk of a massive oil spill"

In the meantime, the 45-year-old ship and its cargo have turned into a floating time bomb.

In the event of a leak, an explosion in the tanks or a rupture, four times as much oil could escape as in the disaster involving the tanker "Exxon Valdez" off Alaska in 1989. In the worst case, the Red Sea and its coasts could be covered with black silt for hundreds of kilometers will.

With a conference on Wednesday (May 11), the United Nations tried in a race against time to prevent an imminent environmental catastrophe.

The "risk of a massive oil spill" is imminent, warned UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly.

He predicted a "massive catastrophe" for the environment and people if the oil tanker were not rescued.

UN want to save oil tankers off Yemen: rescue costs a total of 144 million dollars

The United Nations will need a total of 144 million dollars (136 million euros) for this, Gressly announced at the start of the donor conference.

The participating countries initially pledged 33 million dollars (31 million euros).

The UN and the Netherlands, as co-host country, said that more funds were urgently needed to start the rescue operation.

With the exception of the rich Gulf Emirate of Qatar, only European countries, including Germany, Switzerland and France, pledged funds.

The UN and the Netherlands plan to try to raise more funds this month.

The United Nations published an animation on Wednesday about how the rescue could work.

First, experts would go on board to examine the ship and anchorage and stabilize the gas mixture in the oil tanks.

Then the oil would be pumped into another tanker, secured by oil booms in the water.

The tanks of the "Safer" would then be cleaned from the inside and the rusting ship could be towed to a shipyard.

The rescue would take a few months and would need to be completed before the weather off the coast of Yemen worsens from September.

Strong winds and erratic currents from October then make the action more difficult and increase the risk of the rusting tanker breaking apart.

Threatening oil spill off the coast of Yemen: devastating consequences for people, the environment and shipping

The UN and environmentalists like Greenpeace predict devastating consequences in the event of an oil spill.

Among other things, fishing, on which countless families in Yemen depend, would be severely endangered.

In addition, the water supply would be in danger because desalination plants could be polluted by oil.

According to UN estimates, the clean-up work would cost around 20 billion dollars (18.9 billion euros).

In addition to the devastating damage to people and the environment in the region, shipping would also be severely affected.

An oil slick up to Saudi Arabia and across the Bab al-Mandab strait could have serious consequences.

The important route and access to the Suez Canal might have to be closed.

For logistics and trade, it would be a dramatic new edition of the “Ever Given” case.

The container ship blocked the Suez Canal for days in spring 2021.

Twelve percent of global trade passes through the waterway every day.