Yemen-based HSA Group has pledged $1.2m to avoid any oil spill from the slowly disintegrating FPSO Safer, which for seven years has been sitting off the Yemeni south coast with more than a million barrels of oil on board.
The UN has been trying to raise $80m to undertake a transfer of the oil to another vessel, without disturbing the claims of ownership by the Houthi side of the Yemeni civil war.
The UN so far has raised about $64m. HSA is Yemen’s largest private company.
Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, managing director of HSA’s Yemen operations, said that “given that there remains a large funding shortfall, and time is running out, HSA believes that the private sector must step forward,”
A public crowdfunding drive initiated in June will be relaunched later this month after raising only $142,000. It had aimed to raise $5m.
After the temporary transfer to another ship the UN hopes to arrange long-term storage, which would bring the total cost of the operation to $144m.
Russell Geekie, a spokesperson for the top U.N. official in Yemen, told Reuters the organization hoped HSA’s contribution would serve as a catalyst for other private entities. Geekie said that so far between $9m and $10m had been disbursed by donors for the operation so far.
