After years of tense diplomacy between the United Nations, Yemen's Huthi rebels and the internationally recognised government, the Nautica entered Yemeni waters at midday, and was expected to moor soon alongside the FSO Safer, a rusting super-tanker in the Red Sea.
The delicate operation to transfer 1.14 million barrels of Marib light crude to the Nautica, bought by the United Nations for the operation, is expected to begin towards the end of the coming week.
Despite stringent safety checks, concerns remain about a spill or an explosion. The Safer is carrying four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
"The risk is high. The risk is very high," said Mohammed Mudawi, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) project manager for the ship Safer.
"But we are hoping with the completion of the project that this will be eliminated."
Maintenance operations on the Safer were suspended in 2015 because of Yemen's war, and the UNDP has for years warned it could "explode at any time".
A major spill could result in ecological disaster, devastate Yemeni fishing communities, and close lifeline ports and desalination plants.
The potential spill -- which could cost more than $20 billion to clean up -- would possibly reach Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, the UN has warned.
The Iran-backed Huthis seized Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014 and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since March 2015, in a conflict that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and left most Yemenis dependent on aid.
- 'Really hot, really quickly' -
Scorching summer temperatures, ageing pipes and sea mines lurking in surrounding waters all pose threats to the operation, which has been under preparation since late May by experts from the private company SMIT Salvage.
The team has inspected the vessel, arranged transfer pumps and hoses and pumped inert gas into cargo tanks to lower the risk of an explosion, David Gressly, the UN's resident coordinator for Yemen, told the Security Council on Monday.
Working at the height of summer, when on-deck temperatures soar above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), is an additional hazard, said Nick Quinn, a senior adviser for the project.
"It becomes really hot, really quickly," Quinn said, noting that this increases the odds of "slips, trips and falls" on deck for workers donning heavy personal protective equipment.
The 47-year-old Safer has been moored off Yemen's coast since the 1980s, when it was converted into a floating storage and offloading unit.
The Nautica sailed from Djibouti on Saturday, arriving in Yemeni waters before midday on Sunday.
Gressly, who was aboard the new ship, told AFP that local officials went out to see it on Sunday.
"We feel pretty confident now that this is going to go forward. We believe through all the statements that we've received and the assurances, both private and public, that the transfer will go through," Gressly said.
- Saga won't end there -
Out past mangrove stands and other tankers bearing gas and grains, the Safer's position -- around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the port of Hodeida -- is rich in the type of wildlife that would be devastated by a spill.
When AFP visited the Safer on Saturday, dolphins flashed their fins within sight of the ship, and cormorants could be seen on the rudder, which they have made their home for years.
Mudawi said lingering concerns about the Safer's infrastructure require oil-pumping to start during the day, at least 10 hours before sunset, to ensure all connections are secure and that workers can monitor for leaks.
Once underway, UN officials expect the transfer of oil from the Safer to the Nautica to take about three weeks.
The saga won't end there, however, because the question of who owns the oil will still need to be resolved by the warring Yemeni factions.
The Nautica will soon be renamed Yemen and will stay in the area as ownership talks continue.
"Once we transfer the oil, we would have to then take care of the new vessel," said Edrees al-Shami, the Huthi-appointed executive general manager of SEPOC, the Yemeni oil and gas company.
Shami's appointment is not acknowledged by the internationally recognised government, which has named its own SEPOC head.
"So we move the problem from an older, ageing vessel to a newer vessel," Shami said.
"But the sea conditions are very rough, and if you don't maintain it for a while then you go back to the same problem."
Yemen's stricken oil tanker: defusing a 'ticking time bomb'
Hodeida, Yemen (AFP) July 16, 2023 -
On Sunday, a United Nations-owned super-tanker arrived for a delicate operation to pump the oil from the abandoned ship, the FSO Safer.
Here are some key facts:
- Blast risk -
The 47-year-old Safer, long used as a floating oil storage platform, is moored off Yemen's western port of Hodeida in the Red Sea, a key shipping route. It has not been serviced during Yemen's eight-year civil war.
Lying about eight kilometres (five miles) from the coast, the Safer is carrying four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
The systems needed to pump inert gas into its tanks stopped working in 2017, raising the risk of an explosion. The UN and Greenpeace have described the vessel as a "ticking time bomb".
The UN operation to transfer oil from the Safer and tow the ship to a scrap yard is budgeted at some $143 million.
The UN says it still needs an additional $22 million to tow the Safer to a recycling yard and safely tether the replacement vessel to ensure safe storage of the oil, until its eventual destination is decided.
- $20bn spill? -
In the event of a spill, the UN estimates clean-up costs could top $20 billion, with potentially catastrophic environmental, humanitarian and economic consequences.
A major spill would devastate fishing communities on Yemen's Red Sea coast, instantly wiping out livelihoods for 200,000 people, according to the UN.
It could close desalination plants on the Red Sea, and shut the Hodeidah and Saleef ports -- lifelines for bringing food, fuel and other vital supplies into Yemen, where most of the population depends on aid to survive.
The spill could reach Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, and would produce highly polluted air over a large area, exposing whole communities to life-threatening toxins.
Maritime traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the Suez Canal, the route to the Mediterranean, could be disrupted, costing billions per day, the UN says.
- Disruptions and delays -
Attempts to inspect the deteriorating ship have dragged on for years, with UN requests for access repeatedly declined by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control much of Yemen's north including Hodeida port.
The Huthis, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, have demanded guarantees that the value of the Safer's oil would be handed over to pay the salaries of their employees.
In March last year, the Huthis signed a memorandum of understanding with the UN, establishing a framework for cooperation to facilitate the project.
Inspections finally kicked off on May 30, with the arrival of a team of experts from the private company SMIT Salvage who began preparations for the operation.
In June, the UN secured insurance coverage for the complex and risky operation, clearing yet another major obstacle.
- Pumping the oil -
Earlier this month, the UN said that SMIT had declared the vessel stable enough for a ship-to-ship transfer.
The Nautica, a super-tanker the UN purchased for the oil transfer, arrived from Djibouti on Sunday and was due to moor alongside the Safer. The pumping operation was expected to start within three days.
Removing the oil could take between one week and one month, depending on how easily it can be pumped, Peter Berdowski, CEO of SMIT Salvage's parent company Boskalis, said last month.
However, even after the transfer, the decaying Safer will still "pose a residual environmental threat, holding viscous oil residue and remaining at risk of breaking apart", the UN has warned.
During and after the transfer, SMIT will assess how much oil sludge remains in the Safer's tanks, and it will be moved to a specialised yard for cleaning or, if it is too fragile to be shifted, it will be cleaned on site.
The Safer is intended to be fully decommissioned, with its parts recycled. The Nautica will be renamed Yemen, and will stay in the area as talks continue about who controls the ship and the oil.
Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
