From the process of extracting oil from Safer
The next stage of the process includes cleaning the SAFER tanks and preparing for their transportation and recycling
Posted on: August 11, 2023: 03:53 PM GST Last updated: August 11, 2023: 08:02 PM GST
Today, Friday, the United Nations announced the end of the process of withdrawing the cargo of the dilapidated “Safer” oil tanker off the strategic Yemeni port of Hodeidah in the Red Sea, indicating that more than a million barrels of oil had been withdrawn from it, and thus the imminent danger of a leak had passed.
The international organization said in a statement that its Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “welcomes the news that the transfer of oil from the Safer tanker to the Yemeni replacement ship ended safely today, avoiding (the region) what could have been a huge environmental and humanitarian disaster.”
United Nations officials have been warning for years that the tanker is in danger of exploding and may leak an amount of oil four times greater than the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 off Alaska, which would have caused an environmental disaster that would have cost $20 billion to erase its effects.
For his part, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said that this achievement means the end of the “basic part” of the efforts that have been made for years to stop the threat posed by the Safer tanker.
“Today we are very grateful to be able to announce the completion of this part of the project,” Steiner told AFP.
“This removes the imminent and immediate threat that has become the focus of the entire world’s attention: an oil tanker that could collapse or explode in the Red Sea,” he added.
However, the danger posed by the crumbling tanker is far from over. The United Nations had previously warned that even after the completion of the oil transfer process, “the dilapidated tanker Safer will continue to pose an environmental threat” from the viscous oil residue and the risk of its disintegration.
The next stage of the process includes cleaning the SAFER tanks and preparing for their transportation and recycling.
Steiner indicated that this stage would take “between two and three weeks.”
Earlier in the day, the Yemeni Foreign Minister, Ahmed bin Mubarak, had said that today, the Safer oil reservoir will be completed, after a major UN and international operation.
Bin Mubarak said on his Twitter account that the government dealt with “high responsibility” towards the Safer file, indicating that its first goal was the success of the operation to save the waters, coasts and beaches of Yemen and the countries of the region from an imminent environmental disaster.
On Thursday, the internationally recognized Yemeni government announced the completion of the transfer of about 97% of the total oil stored in the “Safer” to the alternative tanker during the past two weeks of the transfer process.
Last Tuesday, the Yemeni Minister of Transport, Abdul Salam Hamid, revealed that 94% of the Safer reservoir’s oil had been unloaded, or more than a million barrels.
The Safer tanker, which was carrying a shipment estimated at one million and one hundred thousand barrels, was at risk of collapsing or exploding, which could cause an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. The replacement tanker, Yemen, arrived at the Safer site on May 30.
The United Nations Development Program announced that the total cost of the operation is estimated at $142 million.
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2023-08-11 16:02:35
