Operation To Secure 1.1M Barrels of Oil From Failing Tanker, Prevent Catastrophic Mega-Spill, Begins Off Yemen’s Coast
A complex operation to offload oil from a massive disintegrating tanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast began on Tuesday, in an effort to prevent a potentially catastrophic spill or explosion.
The tanker, known as the FSO Safer, is 360 meters (1,181 feet) long and contains over 1.1 million barrels of oil originally pumped from the Marib region of eastern Yemen. According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the oil will be transferred to another vessel in an operation that will take no more than three weeks.
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“The ship-to-ship transfer of oil which has started today is the critical next step in avoiding an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a colossal scale,” Guterres said in a statement.
The UN and environmental experts have long warned of the possible dangers of the Safer. The tanker has gone unmaintained for eight years, causing internal water damage and increasing risk for the tanker to sink or even explode.
The tanker carries quadruple the amount of oil that spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, and any spill or explosion has the potential to disrupt global trade routes through the Suez Canal or Bab el-Mandeb strait. Cleanup of any such disaster could cost tens of billions, Guterres said.
Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN Development Program, explained the continuation of the oil transfer process: The oil will be extracted via an undersea pipeline, and the Safer will be towed to a scrapyard.
