A UN-backed operation to prevent a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of Yemen began pumping oil from a decaying ship this week.
According to the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, David Gressly, the movement of oil off the FSO Safer has started. The Safer is anchored off Yemen and for the last half decade there have been concerns it could leak oil.
“It has begun,” Gressly wrote on Tuesday. “Today at 10:45 Yemen time, SMIT Salvage began the transfer of more than 1 million barrels of oil from the decaying FSO Safer to the replacement vessel Yemen (formerly Nautica). The transfer should be completed in less than three weeks,” he noted. He posted a photo of the ships online showing the pumping taking place.
IT HAS BEGUN! Today at 10:45 Yemen time, SMIT Salvage began the transfer of more than 1 mln barrels of oil from the decaying #FSOSafer to the replacement vessel Yemen (formerly Nautica). The transfer should be completed in less than three weeks. #StopRedSeaSpill pic.twitter.com/msUPVDii2N
— David Gressly (@DavidGressly) July 25, 2023
Achim Steiner, the administrator at the United Nations Development Programme, also celebrated online, writing about “the moment we've been waiting for is here: transfer of oil from FSO Safer to Yemen replacement tanker has begun! A big thank you to all our partners and teams on the ships!”
UN chief: We need to defuse a ticking time bomb
UN head Antonio Guterres also praised the operation." The UN has begun a complex operation to transfer 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker off the coast of Yemen. We need to keep working to defuse what remains a ticking time bomb & avoid what would be by far the worst oil spill of our era.”
This is an important development for the region. It also shows the UN can accomplish operations like this with the right backing. Private backing has been important in helping to try to solve the issue of this tanker. Nevertheless, it took many years to accomplish.
It remains to be seen what may happen in Yemen and whether the operation will continue successfully.