Diplomacy Prevents Ecological Disaster in the Red Sea

The U.N. announced the successful offloading of 1.1 million barrels of oil from the derelict Safer supertanker off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, Aug. 11. Following the onset of Yemen’s civil war in 2015, the Safer gradually deteriorated and was left unmaintained, putting it at serious risk of a leak or explosion. A spill of the vessel’s cargo—four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster—would have devastated the Red Sea’s ecosystem, closed nearby ports, exacerbated Yemen’s acute humanitarian crisis, and threatened a vital global shipping artery. The cleanup efforts for a potentially massive oil spill alone were projected to cost $20 billion.

The Safer operation owes its success to years of tireless U.S. diplomacy and international cooperation, led most recently in large part by Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking and U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin, working closely with United Nations Resident Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly. A U.N.-formulated plan, adopted in 2021, called for procuring a replacement vessel and contracting a salvage company to transfer the oil. The multiphase operation, budgeted at $144 million, relied on donations from across the international community, including the private sector, a crowdfunding campaign, and $10 million from the U.S. government.

While raising those funds, the U.N. navigated a complex political environment to secure approvals from the Yemeni government, which owns the Safer, and the Houthis, who physically control the tanker and surrounding waters. The operation would have been impossible if not for the de-escalation in Yemen over the past 18 months following the April 2022 truce, which the United States also helped secure.

While the worst-case scenario has been averted in the Red Sea, there is still work to be done. A $22 million funding gap remains for the next phase of the operation, which involves connecting the replacement vessel to the underwater oil pipeline and towing and scrapping the Safer.

The United States is proud to have supported this tremendous multilateral effort and remains committed to completing the project. This achievement should serve as a model for how the international community can proactively address crises before they occur.