The IMO Can’t Prevent This Massive Oil Tanker From Spilling

The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has warned that the Safer FSO, stranded since 2015, could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster near Alaska, but access to the vessel has been complicated by the war in Yemen.

Yemen’s Houthi movement, which controls the area where the tanker is moored and the national oil firm that owns it, agreed in July to allow a technical team to assess the ship and conduct whatever repairs may be feasible.

But the two sources said that it could take another seven weeks to finalize details of the agreement and logistics, with the coronavirus pandemic further complicating planning.

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