Oil weapon: Houthi tool to threaten Yemen and hit shipping

Nora Bandari

The Houthi coup militia continues to violate international norms and threaten the security and stability of Yemen, by all possible means.

The oil weapon is the tool used to wage an economic war and even geopolitical threat to the entire world. Therefore, oil is one of the biggest weapons affecting the fateful battles between all the parties to the conflict in recent times.

This led the Houthi coup militia to play this card. The UN team was prevented from reaching the Safir oil tanker floating for 4 years, off the coast of Hodeidah in the Red Sea to assess the damage to the tank and its maintenance, which led the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Minerals to release a statement on September 25, which pointed out that the continuation of Houthi militias in this matter, is a blatant and explicit challenge to the United Nations and the international community.

Therefore, the Yemeni ministry warned that the explosion of the floating tank “is imminent” in light of the bad and deteriorating situation of the tanker and this portends an environmental catastrophe that will be the biggest in history, hence the intransigence practiced by the outlawed Houthi militia fails all the efforts exerted by the Yemeni government during the period.

The Yemeni Ministry of Oil called on the United Nations, the international community and all environmental organizations to intervene promptly and to force those militias to allow the UN team and maintenance teams to reach the area.

Disclaimer of Agreement

Earlier, the Houthi militia allowed the entry of the UN assessment team, which arrived in Djibouti last month to go to Safir tanker but then retreated and blocked entry.

That is why, according to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Mark Lokok, said that with the prior approval of the Houthis, “we deployed the UN assessment team and equipment in Djibouti last month, with the assessment starting on August 27”.

“Safir Tanker”

The Safer oil tanker has been used as a floating tank and an oil export terminal since 1988. It was a small oil export terminal in Marib, but has been out of operation since March 2015. It carries 1.1 million barrels of crude oil north of the city of Hodeidah, which is a marine platform to carry ships with crude oil, and is the third largest reservoir of floating oil in the world.

Many Western newspapers have described this ship as a time bomb, and it is threatened by the explosion due to the dangerous accumulation of volatile gases from the oil it carries.

It will cause the biggest oil spills in the world, leaving a devastating environmental disaster for marine life that will extend to the shores of five countries overlooking the sea in addition to slowing the navigation. It will be a tragedy for the world economy.

That is why the United Nations accused Houthis of blocking its team from reaching the ship for injecting it with inert gases. The tanker is part of the Stockholm agreement to withdraw militias from major Red Sea ports, including Ras Issa.

Houthi’s apprehension

On August 1, the Washington Post reported that the Houthi terrorist militia had asked for $ 80 million in exchange for allowing UN experts to rescue the oil tanker “Safir” in the port of Ras Issa. It is under its control in the capital Sana’a, because it controls the Ras Issa oil port in Hodeidah governorate.

For his part, the Yemeni researcher Mahmoud al-Taher said that the Houthi militia fears the international access to the floating oil tank in Hodeidah, arguing that the Yemeni government will withdraw it for sale, as well as accusing international envoys of trying to send military information to the Arab coalition, which indicates to the panic and mistrust of the international community of the pro-Iranian terrorist militia.