Summary

• A derelict oil tanker off the coast of Yemen was in danger of leaking more than a million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea.

• The tanker, FSO Safer, was 47 years old and had serious mechanical and structural risks.

• A UN diplomat, David Gressly, orchestrated a last-ditch cleanup operation to remove the oil from the tanker.

• Gressly launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the $144 million needed for the operation.

• The campaign was successful, and the oil was removed from the tanker in August 2023.

• Gressly is now considering establishing contingency plans for future situations of this sort.

More Details

• The FSO Safer was abandoned off the coast of Yemen in 2015 when war broke out in the country.

• The oil on the tanker belongs to the Yemeni state, but who represents that country is not yet settled.

• The crowdfunding campaign was successful because it was supported by people from all over the world, including Yemeni businessmen, schoolchildren in the United States, and the UN emergency humanitarian fund.

• Gressly is now considering establishing contingency plans for future situations of this sort, such as setting up a fund to cover the cost of emergency cleanups.