The Yemeni government began coordinating with the UN to discuss the executive plans of the second operation of removing crude oil from the rusting FSO Safer tanker, anchored off the coast of Hodeidah on the Red Sea.
The first phase was completed by transferring about 1.1 million barrels to an alternative tanker.
The next phase will focus on mobilizing the necessary funding from donors and partners from the private sector and other parties, cleaning Safer, and disposing of the crude oil in the replacement vessel.
The UN indicated that additional funding, estimated at $20 million, is needed to complete the second phase of the Safer process.
On August 11, the Yemeni Foreign Minister, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, announced the completion of unloading crude oil from the dilapidated tanker to the replacement one as part of the UN-sponsored plan to avoid the largest environmental disaster in the world.
For his part, the Water and Environment Minister, Tawfiq al-Sharjabi, renewed the government’s full support for the UN efforts to address the situation of the Safer tanker and provide everything possible to ensure the success of all stages of the coordinated plan to avoid the environmental catastrophe.
On Sunday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, David Gressly, briefed Sharjabi via video conferencing on the technical teams’ evaluation of the implementation of the first phase of the process.
They also discussed transferring oil to the alternative ship, the executive plans he prepared to start the second phase, and the coordination and funding efforts.
During the meeting, Sharjabi stressed the importance of cleaning the decaying ship, getting rid of the crude oil stored in the replacement ship, and closing the transportation line after it was separated from the “Safer” tanker, according to Saba news agency.
The Minister discussed with the UN official the general framework of the “Climate Ambition Summit,” which will be held at the UN headquarters in New York on September 20.
The summit aims to address environmental challenges, discuss opportunities related to issues of equity and climate justice, and demonstrate a collective global will to accelerate the pace and scale of a just transition to a more equitable, renewable-energy-based, climate-resilient global economy.
Gressly praised the full cooperation of the Yemeni government in addressing the issue of the Safer oil tanker, stressing the keenness of the UN and its organizations to boost partnership with the government to end environmental threats.
