FSO Safer: End of 2023 update
Expected next steps are well overdue and new threats have appeared.
No news is not good news
After the flurry of activity in the middle of this year when the 1.14 million barrels of oil were transferred from the FSO Safer to the renamed Yemen, a complex operation finally completed in August, it has been really quiet on the expected next steps of the UN mission. Indeed, the originally communicated timelines on an already delayed rescue operation have now well been passed.
Steps after the transfer of the oil
To recap, the expected steps after the initial transfer was announced on 11 August 2023 were as follows, along with available updates in italics:
De-mucking of residual oil
After the main oil transfer operation had been completed, SMIT was to clean up any residual thick sludge, scrub the storage tanks and then transfer the resulting dirty water to the Yemen.
This was completed on 28 August, along with assisting with the mooring of the Yemen in the vicinity of the Safer.
SMIT’s support vessel Ndeavor then departed the next day on its way to Djibouti and arrived a day later on 30 August; salvage crew were due to disembark, before it set sail back to Rotterdam.
Installation of CALM buoy on the Yemen
The UN had indicated sometime in September 2023 for this to occur.
There has been no further progress on this issue.
Scrapping of Safer
While there had been reports of interested parties wanting to be involved in the process, there had not been any official confirmation about when this might happen.
There has been no further progress on this issue.
Fundraising
Sale of Oil
Talks had reportedly been held by the UN with the Houthis and the Yemen government about the potential sale of the oil, with known stumbling blocks including the question of who owns the oil, how the proceeds would get split up, and the Houthis control of the area and thus the oil.
There has been no further progress on this issue.
Future of the replacement Yemen tanker
Concerns had been raised about the suitability of the 15-year old Yemen in the harsh Red Sea environment, it being accepted in many ports when it turned 20 years old and the maintenance required on it now, as well as it being under control of the Houthis.
As long as the transferred oil remained in the region, it was still a potential issue and source of a future spill.
These concerns are still present.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait becomes a major geopolitical concern
One of the consequences of Hamas’ attack on Israel in October and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas, is that the Houthis declared and demonstrated their support for Hamas by attacking any vessels passing through the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait that they thought had any ties to Israel.
Major shipping companies redirected their traffic around South Africa instead (reinforcing the impact that an oil spill by the Safer would have had) and major Western countries provided naval support as protection for any ships still willing to navigate via the Red Sea.
All of this increased military activity increases the risk of that stored oil on the Yemen being caught in the crossfire.
David Gressly has left the United Nations
After 40 years of service to the UN, the (now former) Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, who was responsible for so much of the back and forth negotiations with the various stakeholders to the FSO Safer, left the organisation.
After being honoured at the United Nations Foundation in mid-December for his tenure, he has taken up the position of Executive Director for Friends of the Verde River, a non-profit environmental conservation organisation based in Arizona.