Ongoing talks on fate of oil aboard ‘Safer’ should not delay progress, UN says – The National

Ongoing talks on fate of oil aboard ‘Safer’ should not delay progress, UN says – The National

David Gressly, the UN's Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Yemen, is touring the Gulf to mobilise $80 million in funds desperately needed to replace the oil tanker FSO Safer.

The “floating time bomb” was moored in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen in 2015 and has remained there unmaintained since Houthi militias took control of the coastline. Experts fear the vessel's deteriorating hull could be breached by corrosion, causing a devastating oil spill or that gases building up in its chambers could cause an explosion.

The fund-raising is part of a wider effort to ensure that a UN-brokered plan to offload the 1.1 million barrels of oil aboard Safer takes place before September when the seasons change and currents are especially strong, making the ship’s deterioration more likely.