UN-led mission to start draining stricken oil tanker off Yemen

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the  full piece here in The Financial Times or enjoy below

🗞️ Driving the news: The UN-coordinated operation to drain the FSO Safer, a stricken oil tanker off the Yemen coast considered a ticking environmental time bomb, is set to commence soon
• The mission includes transferring the roughly 1.1 million barrels of crude from the FSO Safer's tanks to a replacement vessel

🔭 The context: The FSO Safer, one of the largest tankers ever built, has been stationed off Yemen for more than 30 years, used as a storage for the country's oil production
• However, maintenance on the vessel ceased since the Yemen war began in 2015, raising concerns about a potential explosion or the vessel breaking up due to dangerous gas buildup

🌎 Why does it matter for the planet: If the FSO Safer's cargo were to leak, it would result in an environmental catastrophe four times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989
• Such an event would threaten millions of livelihoods, disrupt shipping lanes, and overwhelm the region's inadequate response capabilities

⏭️ What's next: The "highly complex" operation will proceed with caution, guided by a "three-tier contingency plan" to handle potential spills or a tanker breakup
• If a massive oil spill occurs, an international response, including aircraft and other vessels, will be initiated

💬 One quote: "Things are moving ahead as hoped. As we speak we’re now preparing to move the [new vessel] next to the Safer and to begin to put the pipes from one ship to another" (Achim Steiner, the UN development programme official coordinating the mission)

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