Peace Support Facility – FSO Safer Salvage Operation - Yemen

Moored off the Red Sea coast of Yemen, the FSO Safer is a rapidly decaying supertanker at risk of breaking apart or exploding, discharging up to 1’148’000 mio barrels of crude oil along the Red Sea coastline. The spill would result in a humanitarian, economic and environmental catastrophe with its epicentre on the coast of Yemen, a country already devastated by more than seven years of war. 

The Salvage Operation by the United Nations aims to prevent this catastrophe by mobilising salvage assets, offloading the oil from FSO Safer, placing an oil-spill contingency response on stand-by, and establishing the conditions for the disposal of FSO Safer once a longer-term storage solution has been agreed.

12 million people whose lives and livelihoods could be directly impacted by the oil spill, pollution, port closures and clean-up operations. 

More than 30.7 Mio persons who could be affected indirectly due to food insecurity and loss of livelihoods. 

Principaux résultats attendus:  

-    Operational approvals granted;

-    Detailed planning established; 

-    Security and risk mitigation in place; 

-    Funding secured;

-    Successful securing and transfer of oil;

-    Post oil-transfer activities carried out;

-    Oil sold and FSO Safer vessel replaced.