The UN has a reached an agreement to offload the floating storage ship Safer stranded off the coast of Yemen, its under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief said in a statement Feb. 16.

The UN has made “recent progress in efforts to resolve the Safer tanker issue, including an agreement in principle to a UN-coordinated proposal to shift the oil to another ship,” Martin Griffiths said.

The Japanese-made ship has been stranded following the conflict in Yemen since 2015 and contains around 1.14 million barrels of oil.

The ship has suffered structural damage and has been a ticking time bomb, with potential for severe ecological disaster due to years of accumulated oil vapors.

The UN did not specify the buyers for the crude or when the transfer will take place.

The FSO holds Marib Light Crude, which is a blend of output from the Marib and Jannah fields in the southwest of Yemen. ExxonMobil was an operator in both blocks, where production averaged 195,000 b/d.

The company could not be reached for comment on the proposed UN deal on transfer of the crude.

Marib grade crude is a sweet, extra light crude comparable to US shale variants such as Eagle Ford or Bakken.

The crude is lighter than most North Sea or Middle East crudes and is similar to Far East extra light crudes with a lower pour point, according to ExxonMobil.

Marib crude was loaded from the Ras Isa Marine Terminal, which was operated by the Yemen Hunt Oil Co., which could be not be reached immediately for comment.

Marex Media