The Houthis, who control the region surrounding the mooring area, have resisted requests from the United Nations to assess the condition of the ship. But they seemed to have a change of heart after a seawater leak in the Safer’s engine room in May, which the crew and a team of emergency divers dispatched by the ship’s owner were able to temporarily repair.
Speaking at the same Security Council briefing as Ms. Anderson, Mark Lowcock, the top United Nations relief official, said the Houthi leadership had confirmed in writing that it would allow a long-planned UN mission to evaluate the tanker. “We expect it to take place in the coming weeks.”
Still, Mr. Lowcock was guarded in his optimism. In August 2019, the Houthis accepted a request from the United Nations to inspect the tanker, only to cancel it the night before.
The Houthis’ reluctance to relinquish control over the ship is due in part to the group’s desire to sell the oil, or at least use it to negotiate with its Saudi adversaries. But the coronavirus pandemic has severely lowered the price of oil, making the content of the Safer much less valuable. Additionally, oil has been languishing in rusty tanks for at least five years, which may have contaminated it.
“The Houthis may think, ‘We have to get rid of this before this becomes a huge problem for us,'” said Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, an online service that monitors shipping and warehousing of Petroleum. “I would like to think that is the case.”
In addition, he said, the Safer cargo “is probably contaminated: this would be the last oil deposit I would like to buy.”
Ian M. Ralby, founder and executive director of IR Consilium, a maritime safety consultancy, said Houthi leaders who once viewed the Safer as an asset “may now see the benefit of allowing the situation to be resolved.”
