Offshore staff
DORDRECHT, the Netherlands – Boskalis, via its subsidiary SMIT Salvage, has reached agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on removing oil from the FSO Safer, moored 9 km off Yemen’s Red Sea coast and 50 km northeast of the port of Hodeida.
The single-hulled vessel, converted in 1987 from an oil tanker to a floating storage facility, has not been maintained since 2015 due to the conflict in Yemen.
According to Boskalis, it has decayed to such an extent that there is a risk of an explosion or the vessel breaking apart. It is thought to contain 1.14 MMbbl of light crude.
Boskalis’ multi-purpose support vessel Ndeavor will depart tomorrow from Rotterdam and sail to Djibouti. On arrival, the salvage crew will make the final preparations before departing for the Safer’s location offshore Yemen.
The initial onsite phase will comprise a comprehensive inspection of the vessel and its cargo and establishing a safe working environment. Once the vessel and its cargo tanks are declared safe, a UN-purchased very large crude carrier (VLCC) will draw up alongside, at which point the ship-to-ship oil pumping operation will be ready to begin.
Safer’s tanks will then be cleaned, and the residual water also transferred to the VLCC.
The onsite operation should be completed within two months. When Safer is declared clean and empty, preparations will start for towing the vessel to an appropriate scrapping yard under the UN’s responsibility.
Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator, said, “We look forward to working with Boskalis and other leading experts to prevent a humanitarian, environmental and economic disaster. We also appeal to leaders from governments and corporations to step forward and help us raise the remaining $29 million required to complete this complex rescue operation.”
04.20.2023
