The FSO Safer, a deteriorating oil tanker anchored in Yemen’s Marib Basin, posed a 1.14-million-barrel environmental and humanitarian threat, with a potential $20 billion cleanup cost.
Anchored in coastal waters, the Safer oil tanker acted as an export terminal for light crude oil piped to it from the Marib Basin in mainland Yemen. Its operations and maintenance were suspended in 2015, after Yemen’s ongoing civil war broke out in 2014. Since then, it sat disintegrating on its permanent mooring,1.14 million barrels of oil — four times worse than the Exxon Valdez, with an estimated cleanup cost of $20 billion.
Transfer of the oil to a seaworthy vessel was partly funded thanks to pledged donations from 23 of the 193 U.N. member states. Pledges that states have honored so far cover $93 million of the $143 million tab, with another $10 million yet to materialize. The oil industry and other private parties, including a group of children, donated nearly $20 million.
Deck of the Safer with small spills, photographed in 2019. Image supplied with permission by I.R. Consilium. Yet convincing stakeholders it was feasible at all given security concerns about operating in a volatile war zone, and then keeping them focused on the core issue of protecting the Red Sea was key, according to Gressly.
“Octavia felt compelled to contribute to the FSO Safer rescue operation, given the humanitarian disaster that could unfold if there was a tanker rupture resulting in an oil spill,” Darren Lucas, board member and director of Octavia Energy, told Mongabay.Aerial view of the FSO Safer with the Yemen moored alongside, preparing to transfer the oil. Image courtesy of Boskalis.
A wrasse swims past a Stylophora pistillata coral colony in the northern Red Sea near Dahab, Egypt. Image by Elizabeth Fitt. Members of the Westbrook Green Club fundraising to save the Red Sea with their lemonade stand. Image used with permission of Westbrook Elementary School.
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