The oil minister of the National Salvation Government, a group of "Ansar Allah" (Houthis), Ahmed Dars, warned on Sunday of an environmental disaster in the event of a leak from an oil tanker taking a floating reservoir off the coast of the province of Hodeidah in western Yemen, To save the situation.
Cairo – .. "The forces of aggression prevent our arrival at the Safer tank floating off the port of Ras Issa, and even target those who approach it," Dars said in remarks carried by Al-Masirah channel, Ansar Allah.
"We appealed to the United Nations and freed us from the repercussions of any oil spill from the Safer tank floating in the sea to no avail, and we are not concerned about any repercussions after we made all the concessions," he said.
"We demanded that the cost of maintenance work for the floating tank should be the value of stored oil and we were refused," he said.
He considered that "to ensure that the return of oil in the floating tank for maintenance and the disbursement of salaries of the people is a proof of our responsibility."
He stressed that "Safer company in Marib is concerned with sending maintenance teams, not withdraw them from the floating tank in the sea."
The Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Iryani accused Ansar Allah on Thursday of preventing a UN technical team from carrying out the inspection and maintenance work of the Safar tanker, which was anchored in the Red Sea near the Ras Issa al-Hodeidah port four years ago. It contains more than 1 million barrels of oil Marb Light, and requiring it to obtain guarantees that would enable it to return estimated revenues of $ 80 million.
Al-Eryani warned that any oil spill from Safer would lead to an environmental disaster that could spread to Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt.
The oil company in Sana'a accused the Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia in November 2016 of blocking access to the Safer tanker or any maintenance of the tanker that had been converted into a floating tank, about 4.8 nautical miles from the Ras Issa port in Hodeidah province, And contains more than one million barrels of Marib light crude, in light of fears of explosion due to the interruption of maintenance work.
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