Deal reached in Yemen to unload oil from ‘floating bomb’ tanker


Ismaeel Naar
  • English
  • Arabic

The UN has co-ordinated a deal in Yemen to unload more than 1 million barrels of crude oil from the rusting FSO Safer tanker and make safe what officials and experts have described as a ticking environmental time bomb.

The FSO Safer, an offshore floating storage vessel used to export crude oil, has been in place since the 1980s and is at dire risk of breaking apart and unleashing its cargo of oil across the Red Sea.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council about a deal on Tuesday to transfer the oil from the FSO Safer.

Mr Griffiths gave no details of the deal but Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told reporters later that progress “as always in Yemen, needs to be solidified in order to be taken forward”.

The tanker is a Japanese-made vessel built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of crude pumped from oilfields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen that is currently a battlefield. The ship is 360 metres long and has 34 storage tanks.

Since the start of the Yemen war in 2015, experts have been unable to reach the ship to assess the risk and a skeleton crew remains aboard under armed guard by the Houthi rebels to keep the ship together.

Experts and officials have called the FSO Safer a floating bomb. Greenpeace last month said that it could cause "one of the biggest oil spill disasters in history [that] would cause widespread severe environmental damage," adding that “the entire Red Sea region’s drinking water supply could be contaminated by oil in just three weeks following a spill."

The Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia and other states on the Red Sea that would bear the brunt of a catastrophic oil spill have been urging the UN to mediate a settlement with the Houthis, who have barred access to the ship and blocked efforts to unload the cargo.

The Iran-backed Houthis control Yemen’s western Red Sea ports, including Ras Issa, which is 6 kilometres away from where the FSO Safer is moored. The UN has been trying to negotiate with the Houthis for years to try to get experts on the tanker to examine it.

The 'FSO Safer' is moored off the west coast of Yemen where its deterioration is a cause of growing concern. Getty
The 'FSO Safer' is moored off the west coast of Yemen where its deterioration is a cause of growing concern. Getty

Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press in June 2020 showed seawater had entered the engine compartment of the tanker, causing damage to the pipes and increasing the risk of sinking.

According to the report, experts said maintenance was no longer possible because the damage to the ship was irreversible.

A leak from the crumbling tanker was reported by a top Yemeni official in December.

For months, the UN has attempted to send a team to assess the risk amid international calls for action, but efforts to unload the oil and make the rusting hulk safe have been hampered by the Houthis.

Negotiations between the UN and the rebels in control of the area where the ship is moored failed earlier last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Virtual banks explained

What is a virtual bank?

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.

What’s the draw in Asia?

Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.

Is Hong Kong short of banks?

No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year. 

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Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8

Power: 640hp

Torque: 760nm

On sale: 2026

Price: Not announced yet

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England v South Africa Test series:

First Test: at Lord's, England won by 211 runs

Second Test: at Trent Bridge, South Africa won by 340 runs

Third Test: at The Oval, July 27-31

Fourth Test: at Old Trafford, August 4-8

The specs

Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8

Transmission: Eight-speed auto

Power: 575bhp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: Dh554,000

On sale: now

Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla

Verdict:  Three stars 

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

MATCH INFO

FA Cup final

Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

SPECS
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MATCH INFO

Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')

Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)

Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

The specs

Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm

Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km

FIGHT%20CARD
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The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410

Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000

Engine 3.5L V6

Transmission Six-speed manual

Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm

Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Quentin%20Tarantino%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Uma%20Thurman%2C%20David%20Carradine%20and%20Michael%20Madsen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

The%20specs
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%3Cp%3EThe%20sixth%20sanctions%20package%20will%20also%20see%20European%20insurers%20banned%20from%20covering%20Russian%20shipping%2C%20more%20individuals%20added%20to%20the%20EU's%20sanctions%20list%20and%20Russia's%20Sberbank%20cut%20off%20from%20international%20payments%20system%20Swift.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
India squad for fourth and fifth Tests

Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Shaw, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur, Vihari

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ELECTION%20RESULTS
%3Cp%3EMacron%E2%80%99s%20Ensemble%20group%20won%20245%20seats.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20second-largest%20group%20in%20parliament%20is%20Nupes%2C%20a%20leftist%20coalition%20led%20by%20Jean-Luc%20Melenchon%2C%20which%20gets%20131%20lawmakers.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20far-right%20National%20Rally%20fared%20much%20better%20than%20expected%20with%2089%20seats.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20centre-right%20Republicans%20and%20their%20allies%20took%2061.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: February 16, 2022, 11:36 AM`