For eight years, warnings from various organizations have highlighted the risks posed by the oil vessel, fearing a major oil spill or even an explosion (Representational image)
In a crucial effort to avert an environmental catastrophe, the United Nations has initiated the extraction of more than 1 million barrels of oil from a rusting tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen, said U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.
It’s a ticking time bomb, and an oil spill will be four times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
Why is this important?
For years, multiple organizations had warned of the dangers posed by the deteriorating tanker. Documents reveal seawater has entered the engine compartment, causing structural damage and increasing the risk of an explosion and sinking.
The supertanker, FSO Safer, has not received maintenance since 2015 due to the crisis in Yemen.
Any spillage would severely disrupt global commercial shipping. It would also cost “tens of billions of dollars” to clean up, according to Secretary Guterres.
The transfer
The oil will be transferred to the replacement vessel Yemen. The operation is expected to be over within three weeks. Once completed, the new vessel will be connected to an undersea pipeline for oil transportation.
To eliminate any lingering environmental threat to the Red Sea, the Safer tanker will be towed to a scrap yard for recycling.
If all goes successfully, the U.N. will have $75 million worth of oil.
The U.N. could sell the liquid gold and pump back the proceeds into the Yemeni economy, which is in the middle of a decade-long civil war.