On Saturday, April 9, the United Nations announced a plan to salvage the Safer Oil Tanker at a cost of $80 million, which had the support of all concerned parties in Yemen, including the charter of a very large oil tanker to keep oil, crew and provide maintenance for a period of 18 months.
An important first step on the way to addressing the problem of the reservoir, which has turned into a crisis and a pressure card in the ongoing conflict in Yemen since 2015, despite the seriousness of its deteriorating situation and its threat to the marine environment of the western coasts of Yemen in the Red Sea.
The plan was revealed by the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations in Yemen, David Gressly, in a press conference held in New York, in which he unveiled the United Nations plan to prevent the threat of the Safir Reservoir, describing it as feasible in order to confront this threat, and that the plan received the support of all parties. The United Nations actively involved the internationally recognized government in Aden, which supported the initiative, and the authorities in Sana'a - which controls the area where the tanker is located - supported the initiative and signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations on 5 March.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is one of the largest supporters of the United Nations efforts, will host a donors meeting for the operational plan, which is expected to be held in the first half of next May, while a UN delegation will head to the capitals of Gulf countries to promote the plan prepared by the United Nations to rescue the Safir oil tanker.
The Dutch ambassador to Yemen, Peter Dirk Hof, played an active role in reaching the latest agreement on the Safir reservoir and in making a breakthrough on the complex and thorny issue of the reservoir since the beginning of the ongoing war in Yemen in 2015. Ambassador Hof crowned his efforts with a visit to Sana’a on March 2/ Last March, to push for an urgent solution to the imminent threat posed by the Safir oil tanker, which the Netherlands funds part of the UN program to prevent an oil spill that raises wide Yemeni and regional concerns.
Production, unloading and maintenance operations on the Safir board were suspended in 2015 due to the outbreak of the war, as a result of which the structural integrity of the Safir Tanker has deteriorated significantly, with assessments that the tanker is beyond repair, and is at risk in the event of leakage or explosion.
The oil tanker, whose life span expired at least ten years ago, needs urgent and comprehensive maintenance to prevent any oil leakage, in addition to addressing the problem of commercial boilers and providing them with mazut to prevent any fire or explosion, and then implementing the other stages that ultimately lead to the dismantling of the tanker.
Since the broke of the war in Yemen in 2015, warnings of any oil spill from the tanker will also spread quickly to the neighboring countries located on the Red Sea, including Djibouti, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia. Experts confirm that any oil spill will affect the fisheries in the entire Red Sea and will directly affect the lives of Millions of people in a country already suffering from the largest humanitarian emergency in the world. Moreover, oil spill will have serious impact on the movement of more than 20,000 ships crossing the Bab al-Mandeb annually, which will paralyze one of the world's busiest trade routes.
Plan Pillars
What is known as the Safir Reservoir, is the main export terminal for light crude oil, which was extracted from some oil sectors located in the eastern regions of Yemen, such as (Sector 18) in the Safir area in Marib Governorate (northeast of Yemen), and (Sector 9) in Malik District, Shabwa Governorate (southeast). However, pumping crude oil to the floating tank stopped in March 2015, with the start of the military intervention of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other countries in Yemen.
The status of the tank confirms the end of the life of the Safir oil tanker since before the war by more than four years. Despite that, its use continued until the implementation of a project that the Basindoha government, which was formed after the February 11 revolution, had agreed to implement a project that includes the construction of replacement tanks for the floating SAFIR tanker, which was considered out of service according to the standards used to determine its lifespan, and was not subject to maintenance operations.
The plan prepared by the United Nations includes two main tracks, the first is the installation of a long-term replacement tanker for the floating tank Safir during a target period of 18 months. If a leak were to occur, it would unleash a massive environmental and humanitarian catastrophe, in a country already devastated by more than 7 years of war.
Second, the execution of an emergency operation for a period of four months by a global marine rescue company in order to end the immediate threat and transfer the oil from aboard the tanker Safir to a safe temporary vessel. The tankers will remain in place until the oil is transferred to a permanent replacement tanker, at which point the Safir tanker will be towed to a yard and sold for recycling.
“My team has worked hard with others over the past six months to defuse what really is called a time bomb off the Red Sea coast of Yemen,” Mr. Grissly told reporters. He expressed optimism about the success of the new UN-coordinated plan to address the imminent threat of a major oil spill from Safir oil tanker.
He continued, warning: "If a leak were to occur, it would unleash a massive environmental and humanitarian catastrophe, in a country already devastated by more than seven years of war."
Safir tanker and potential environmental risks
Safir Reservoir was constructed in 1976 as a supertanker, converted a decade later into a floating oil storage and offloading facility. The tanker SAFIR is anchored about 4.8 (nautical miles) off the coast of Al Hudaydah Governorate. It contains an estimated 1.14 million barrels of light crude oil. The United Nations warns that the tanker is rapidly degrading and contains four times the amount of oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez tanker.
Production, unloading and maintenance operations on board the Safer were suspended in 2015 due to the war, and as a result, the structural integrity of the Safer has deteriorated significantly, with assessments indicating that the tanker is beyond repair, and is at risk in the event of a leak or explosion.
Last month in March, a UN team went to Ras Issa and confirmed through conversations with people in the field that the condition of the 45-year-old tanker was deteriorating, and it was a matter of concern.
Grissly warned of the environmental damage to the countries along the Red Sea coast, and the emergence of the economic impact of the disruption to shipping throughout the region and beyond.
The UN official stressed that a large leakage could lead to the destruction of fishing activities on the Yemeni Red Sea coast, where half a million fishermen support 1.7 million people. He continued, "Two hundred thousand livelihoods will be wiped out immediately, and all families will be exposed to life-threatening toxins."
A major oil spill could also cause the temporary closure of Al Hodieda and Salif ports, which are essential for bringing food, fuel and life-saving supplies to a country where 17 million people are food insecure in Yemen.
The environmental impact on water, coral reefs and life-supporting mangroves would be severe, and could also affect Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.
Besides, the costs of cleaning up oil are only estimated at $20 billion, which does not include the cost of environmental damage across the Red Sea, or the billions that could be lost due to disruption to shipping through the Bab al-Mandab strait, which is also a passage to the Suez Canal.
"The success of the proposed UN plan depends on the quick financial commitments of the donors to start work at the beginning of next June," Grissly said, warning that waiting after that means delaying the start of the project for several months, leaving the time bomb ticking.
This is why, he emphasized, "I am reminding the world of the imminent threat posed by the Safer reservoir, while highlighting the actionable plan coordinated by the United Nations to address it.
