Gresley: Those who control the Safer oil do not own it, and the United Nations avoids delving into its legal ownership

 The United Nations Coordinator in Yemen, David Gresley, said that the party controlling the oil, whose transfer process has ended from the floating tank "Safer", does not own this oil, referring to the Houthi militia.

 Gresley spoke, in an interview with the "United Nations News" website, on Friday, after announcing the completion of the oil transfer process from the Safer tanker to the alternative tanker "Yemen".

 In response to a question about whether the oil is usable and whether the United Nations has reached an agreement with the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia regarding the sale of oil, Gresley said: "The oil appears to be in very good condition. The safety valves are largely intact. The oil is of the light weight crude type."  "So the price is supposed to be good. Oil can be sold and that's actually good. But this is also something that needs to be negotiated between the two parties because those who control the oil are not the ones who own it. So we have to find a way to make this acceptable to all parties."  

He added: We will involve all parties in the discussion on this matter.  We have offered UN mediation, including the possible establishment of a trust fund or escrow account, but no decisions have been reached on this matter.  So, this is another discussion that will be had, noting that one of the reasons why the international side chose this particular solution, i.e. the sale of oil, is the complexity involved in getting the two parties to agree to the sale of oil, but also not having to face issues of legal ownership, because as he said, "it is already owned by multiple parties".

 The UN official did not mention the names of the "multiple parties" that he said legally own the oil, but indicated that this oil, amounting to 1.1 million barrels, was "waiting for sale", but that was not possible due to the war, which the Houthi militia sparked by its coup against the legitimate authority in September 2014. This means that the legal ownership of Safer oil belongs to the legitimate Yemeni government.

Gresley expected negotiating the sale of oil to take "months or even years," as he said the United Nations had instead chosen to solve the environmental threat by first transferring the oil to a replacement tanker and then finding a solution to selling it.

 The UN official stated, "There is hope among Yemenis that the proceeds of this oil can be benefited from if it is sold," pointing out that the success of the process of transporting oil from the dilapidated tanker created "some momentum and expectation of the possibility of accelerating the peace process," noting that the "Yemeni authorities" are  Which will take care of the maintenance of the new ship, and that the United Nations promised the two parties - the government and the Houthi militia - to sit with them at the end of the oil transfer process with the aim of searching for a way to find financing and a way to preserve and maintain the ship.

 The process of pumping oil from the tanker Safer to the replacement tanker "Yemen" took 18 days, one day less than the date set by the United Nations last July when the pumping process began.  While it took a year and a half to prepare for this operation, during which Gresley led this task, commissioned by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

المصدر: نيوزيمن