Sana’a Warns of Catastrophic Repercussions of Safer Tanker

Informed sources revealed a UN retreat to start saving the Safer reservoir, despite the arrival of the oil tanker “Nutica”, an alternative to the dilapidated Safer reservoir, in the middle of this week to Yemen, according to the UN.

The Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, reported that the process of transporting crude oil from the Safer ship, which anchors eight miles from the Ras Issa port on Red Sea coast in Al-Hodeidah Governorate, will not start at the end of this month, according to the previous UN rescue plan.

The newspaper attributed the reason to the failure of the donors’ conference, organized by Britain and the Netherlands last Thursday, to obtain $29 million.

The UN has earned only $5 million, in addition to $3 million in funds, which means that it still needs $14 million to start the process of removing the threat to the marine environment in the Red Sea.

The newspaper stated that the ship “Nutica”, which was bought for rescue, was found to be dilapidated, which prompted the Ministry of Transport in Sana’a to demand that it be examined before entering Yemen’s waters.

The Minister of Transport, Abdulwahhab Al-Durra, stressed the need for the replacement ship for the Safer tank to comply with the standards and specifications agreed upon between the supervisory committee for the implementation of the Safer Agreement and the UN in March 2022.

An oil source in Sana’a confirmed that the shipment carried by “Safer” belongs to foreign companies working in the production of Yemen’s oil

The newspaper stated that the international environmental organization, Greenpeace, helds the international oil companies responsible for endangering the Red Sea region for not participating in providing the necessary funding for the UN plan to offload oil from the Safer.

The 376-meter-long Safer floating ship, which has moored 4.8 nautical miles from Ras Issa port in Hodeidah 30 years ago, is a strategic destination for Yemeni crude oil, flowing through a pumping pipe coming from Sector 18 in the Safer area in Marib, and Sector 9 in Malik area in Shabwa. It was converted from a tanker bearing the name “Isso Japan” that was manufactured in 1976, to a floating tank sold to Yemen in 1986. The tank can hold more than four million barrels of crude oil that is sold to foreign ships.

The Sana’a government says that the ship’s operating crew reaches 700 employees, including technicians, engineers and others in various specialties. It accused the US-Saudi aggression and the Saudi-backed government of targeting the reservoir since it instructed its subsidiary Safer Company in Marib, to reduce workers to only six. On November 8, 2016, the Saudi-led aggression issued a decision to prevent the arrival of the 3,000-ton diesel ship, Rama 1, which is related to supplying the floating ship Safer, according to an official letter from the Public Authority for Maritime Affairs, Hodeidah Branch.

Any oil leakage from the Safer ship or explosion may cause, according to the researchers, to hit the marine environment on which nearly 30 million people depend, including at least 1.6 million Yemenis. The damages may expand to the fisheries on the western Yemeni coast within days, destroying the livelihoods of the coastal communities in Hodeidah, Hajjah and Taiz, who depend on marine fishing and humanitarian aid. More than 8.4 million people may be exposed to elevated levels of pollutants.

Sana’a has repeatedly warned of the repercussions of the deteriorating condition of the Safer tanker after nearly seven years of its stay without any maintenance, which makes the level of an environmental disaster in the Red Sea very larger than ever before, which will affect Yemen and neighboring countries for many years.

The UN continues to ignore its obligations towards the Safer tanker, and the UNOPS evades the implementation of the urgent maintenance agreement and the comprehensive evaluation of the floating tank since its signing in November 2020.