The Saudi Foreign Ministry welcomed on Wednesday the beginning of a process to transfer over one million barrels of oil from the SOF Safer tanker off Yemen’s coast as per a United Nations plan.
The Kingdom also welcomed international efforts that allowed this issue to be resolved, while expressing its appreciation for the work done by the UN team and chief, Antonio Guterres, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The United Nations said on Tuesday it had started the removal of more than 1 million barrels of oil from the decaying supertanker in a highly complex operation it hopes will ward off a regional disaster.
“The ship-to-ship transfer of oil which has started today is the critical next step in avoiding an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a colossal scale,” Guterres said in a statement.
More than 1.1 million barrels of oil stored in the rusting tanker were being moved to another vessel the UN purchased, he said.
