The United States Goverment has welcomed the news that the United Nations has completed a complex maritime operation in the Red Sea to safely offload the entirety of the oil onboard the FSO Safer, a decaying 47-year-old oil supertanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
Secretary of State, Antony Blinken who welcomed the development on behalf of the United States in a statement on Friday, said the Safer or the tanker was at risk of an oil spill four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster.
“Such a spill would have cost tens of billions of dollars to clean up and been an environmental, economic, humanitarian catastrophe for the region. A broad international coalition banded together with strong, early U.S. leadership – to tackle this problem”, he narrated.
On behalf of the United States, Blinken thanked UN Resident Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, who spearheaded the project, United Nations Development Programme, and other international partners who donated to this important effort.
He added that the United States, and specifically its Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking, has been a leader on it, working tirelessly to ensure its progression. While the immediate crisis has been averted, the full operation, including safe removal of the Safer, is not yet finished.
The United States called on the international community and private sector’s financial to urgently support to fill the remaining $22 million funding gap needed to finish the job and address all remaining environmental threats.
United States noted that the operation serves as a strong model for future international coordination and cooperation to proactively prevent crises before occuring. “We commend the UN and the Yemeni parties who came together to avert an environmental, economic, and humanitarian disaster”.
Meanwhile, At 1800 local time on August 11th, 2023, the United Nations successfully completed the transfer of oil from the FSO Safer supertanker off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, preventing the immediate threat of a massive spill.
According to the statement released by the World Body in Yemen on Friday, stating that over 1.1 million barrels of oil transferred to the replacement tanker in 18 days while the Safer has been at risk of breaking up or exploding for years.
“A major spill from the vessel would have resulted in an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe.The cargo of oil aboard the FSO Safer has been pumped onto replacement vessel MOST Yemen (formerly Nautica) in a ship-to-ship transfer that began on 25 July, 2023.
“This followed preparations on site for the operation that began in May by leading marine salvage company SMIT, a subsidiary of Boskalis while the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) contracted SMIT, to implementing the operation”.
While stated further that as much of the 1.14 million barrels has been extracted as possible, however, less than 2 percent of the original oil cargo remains mixed in with sediment that will be removed during the final cleaning of the Safer.
In his reaction, the UN Secretary- General António Guterres welcomed the news of the transfer of oil which has been safely concluded, he said, “United Nations-led operation has prevented what could have been an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a colossal scale.”
Also, the UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said: “the completion of the oil vessel is a proud moment for the many people across the UN System as well as our donors and partners who have worked tirelessly over the past months.
“And years to avert a disaster in a country already vulnerable following protracted conflict. There is still work to be done, but today we can say with confidence that the immediate threat of a spill has been averted.”
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, who led UN system-wide efforts on the Safer since September 2021, said: “it is a great milestone.
“A remarkable global coalition came together under the UN umbrella to prevent the worst-case scenario of a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea. We need to finish the work the UN started. The installation of a CALM buoy to which the replacement vessel will be safely tethered is the next crucial step”, he said.
The United Nations thanked the HSA Group, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, the Trafigura and Leo Balmer Foundations, Octavia Energy/ Calvalley Petroleum, and generous individuals that have contributed to the UN crowdfunding campaign.