The transfer of a huge cargo of oil from a dilapidated supertanker off Yemen, a crucial operation to avoid an oil spill in the Red Sea, is expected to begin soon after a two-week inspection mission, the UN said.
The 47-year-old FSO Safer, converted into a floating storage and offloading terminal, has been anchored without any maintenance since 2015 off the strategic port of Hodeidah in the war-torn west of the country.
A team of experts came on board at the end of May to inspect the boat and prepare the transfer of the equivalent of more than a million barrels of oil to a tanker purchased by the UN, the Nautica.
“We are getting closer to the point where we can start the transfer (…), the next phase and arguably the most important,” UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen David Gressly said Monday during a meeting. conference in The Hague.
In a statement released on Monday, UK-based insurance company Howden said it had “won a tender” to cover the transfer operation.
“Insurance has become an essential element to allow this rescue operation to take place,” said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), on Monday.
“Without her, the mission could not move forward,” he added in a statement.
The operation, costing 148 million dollars, was entrusted to the specialized company SMIT Salvage, a subsidiary of the Dutch Boskalis, which must pump the oil and prepare the towing of the tanker once emptied.
“After two weeks of inspection, our crew are convinced that the Safer is strong enough for such an operation,” Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said during the conference in The Hague.
“As far as we are concerned, we are ready,” he added, pointing out that the transfer could last a week to a month, depending on the quality of the oil stored on the FSO Safer.
Experts still need to check if there is oxygen in the oil tanks, which could cause an explosion, and conduct an underwater inspection of the tanker’s hull, he said.
The FSO Safer is carrying four times the oil that spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, one of the world’s worst environmental disasters.
In the event of an oil spill, the cost of cleanup alone is estimated at $20 billion by the UN, which negotiates with a consortium of insurance companies to cover the operation.
06/13/2023 17:03:58 – Dubai (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
