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FSO SAFER Needs Equipment To Avert Disaster | |
| Sumita Pawar |
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is calling on Member States to contribute equipment to prevent a potential oil spill from the FSO SAFER, a floating storage offshore unit moored off the coast of Yemen.
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The unit, which contains an estimated 150,000 metric tonnes of crude oil, has not been inspected since 2015 and is at risk of breaking up or exploding, leading to a spill that would surpass Yemen’s ability to respond.
On March 9, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) signed an agreement to purchase a very large crude carrier (VLCC), the Nautica, to take on the oil from the FSO SAFER by emergency ship-to-ship transfer. Such operations are complex and inherently risky.
The Nautica left Zhousha, China, on April 6 and is expected to arrive in the Red Sea in early May.
Contingency planning for the transfer operation is, therefore, intensifying. One critical gap identified in Yemen’s preparedness to respond to an oil spill is the lack of specialised equipment within the country.
Because of lengthy lead times for the manufacture and acquisition of oil spill response equipment, IMO is seeking contributions of used or near-end-of-life spill response equipment that can be transported to the region within weeks.
An indicative list of the required equipment annexed to Circular Letter No. 4714 includes items for the containment, recovery, and resource protection aspects of the operation, such as booms to contain any spill and oil skimmer brushes, as well as oil dispersants and rapid erection, self-standing storage tanks.
Information on who to contact with expressions of interest or for additional information can be found here.
An oil spill from the FSO SAFER would constitute a major environmental and humanitarian disaster, impacting Yemeni coastal communities and disrupting operations at the Hudaydah port.