The United Kingdom and the Netherlands co-hosted an online pledging event last week to raise funds for the UN plan to prevent a catastrophic oil spill from the FSO Safer, the decaying tanker off Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
Egypt, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and private company Octavia Energy and its subsidiary, Calvalley Petroleum, announced pledges totaling almost $8 million, of which $5.6 million represents new funding, according to the UN.
Background
The FSO SAFER is an offshore floating storage vessel used to export crude oil, that has been in place since the 1980s and is at risk of breaking apart unleashing its cargo of oil across the Red Sea.
The rusting vessel has been anchored just a few miles off the Yemen coast for more than 30 years, but offloading and maintenance stopped in 2015 following the start of the war in Yemen, between a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally-recognized Government, and Houthi rebels. The structure has been exposed to humidity and corrosion with little or no maintenance.
The cost of cleanup alone is estimated at $20 billion. Disruptions to shipping through the Bab al-Mandab strait to the Suez Canal could cost billions more in global trade losses every day, as happened after the Ever Given grounded in the Canal in 2021.
The United Nations have been trying to salvage the vessel for years both through fundraisers and negotiations. Recently, IMO announced that it urges Member States to contribute equipment to help UN-led efforts to prevent a possible catastrophic oil spill from the FSO SAFER.
The funding
- With that amount, the UN has now raised $105.2 million for the emergency phase of the operation to remove the oil from the FSO Safer.
- This leaves $23.8 million for the emergency phase unfunded.
- An additional $19 million is required for the critical second phase, comprising the installation of a catenary anchor leg mooring buoy and the tethering of the replacement vessel to it, as well as the towing of the FSO Safer to a green salvage yard for recycling.
"We truly appreciate the UK and the Netherlands stepping up and taking the lead in organizing this pledging conference and we thank those who have contributed so far. Yet, the funds are still significantly short of what is needed", said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator
"We are on the cusp of addressing the threat from the Safer. But we will not truly heave a sigh of relief until the work is done. We thank all donors for their generosity and encourage others to contribute to save the Red Sea", said the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, who leads on UN system-wide efforts on the FSO Safer
Source: Safety4sea
