Using donor funds from governments and companies, the U.N. bought a Very Large Crude Carrier, an oil tanker called the Yemen, for $55 million in 2023.
The goal was noble. Off Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Red Sea coast was a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel called the Safer, which was rusted and at risk of sinking. Inaction spelled potential environmental disaster, involving the release into the ocean of four times as much oil as the Exxon Valdez spill and up to $20 billion in cleanup costs. And so the U.N. sent the VLCC Yemen to empty the FSO Safer.
Not everything went according to plan. Following the transfer of oil, the Yemen was supposed to be operated by Yemen’s state oil company under the advisory oversight of the U.N. Development Program.
On paper, the U.N. transferred ownership to Yemen’s internationally recognized government—but control is what matters, and the Houthis have it.
In practice, the vessel serves as a floating fuel station for the Houthis. used as floating storage for Russian oil, while costs for running the vessel are still being fronted by the UN
Both Yemen and the still floating FSO Safer are now under the effective control of the Houthis, the Iran-backed Yemeni militia group responsible for attacking over 100 ships since November 2023.
The shipments of mostly Russia-origin gasoil, at least one of which has since been offloaded and delivered to the Houthi-held port of Ras Isa, have all happened despite repeated objections being made by the UN Development Programme, which retains an advisory oversight role and pays a $450,000 monthly fee for technical services to maintain the vessel.