MEOG: Unloading to begin to make Safer safe

Work to remove 1.1mn barrels of oil from a decaying tanker moored off the coast of Yemen is set to begin soon, the United Nations has said.

A technical support ship arrived on June 6 at the FSO Safer tanker, which is located off the coast of Ras Isa, Yemen. The ship is carrying a team of experts from Boskalis/SMIT, a Dutch company that specialises in offshore operations.

The FSO Safer has been moored in the Red Sea since 1988. It was used to store oil from Yemen’s Marib oilfields, but it has been out of service since the outbreak of the civil war in 2015. The UN has warned that the FSO Safer is at risk of rupturing and spilling its oil into the Red Sea. This would have a devastating impact on the environment and the local economy.

The UN has raised $129mn to pay for the operation to remove the oil from the FSO Safer. The money will be used to hire ships and equipment, and to pay for the salaries of the workers involved in the operation.

The operation is expected to take several months to complete. The UN has said that it will provide regular updates on the progress of the work. The news that work to empty the FSO Safer is set to begin is a welcome development. It is a major step towards preventing a major environmental disaster in the Red Sea.