Yemen: Transfer of oil from decaying ship to start next week

Transfer of crude oil from the dilapidated tanker ‘Safer’ stranded off the coast of Yemen, is expected to start early next week, a senior United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council on Monday.

Carrying over 1.1 million barrels of oil, the supertanker FSO Safer was abandoned off Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah after the civil war broke out in the country in 2015. Since then, the vessel has deteriorated significantly in absence of any servicing or maintenance, prompting fears of a major environmental disaster.

According to David Gressly, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, the vessel Nautica is preparing to sail from Djibouti. It will moor alongside the Safer and once the transfer starts, it will take about two weeks.

“The completion of the ship-to-ship transfer of the oil by the start of August will be a moment when the whole world can heave a sigh of relief,” Gressly said, adding that the “worst-case humanitarian, environmental and economic catastrophe from a massive oil spill will have been prevented.”

After the oil has been off-loaded, the next critical step will include delivery and installment of a catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) buoy, which is secured to the seabed, and to which the replacement vessel will safely be installed. The CALM buoy needs to be in place by September.

Backed by generous funding from Member States, the private sector, and the general public, which contributed US$300,000 through a crowdfunding campaign, UN raised about US$118 million of the US$148 million estimated budget for the undertaking.

The broad coalition working to prevent the catastrophe also includes environmental groups, including Greenpeace and, in Yemen, Holm Akhdar; as well as several UN entities.

At a separate meeting of the 15-member Security Council on Monday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called on the warring parties to reach a “serious breakthrough” in the ongoing discussions to finally end the conflict between an international coalition backing the recognized Government, and Houthi rebels.

He said that despite a period of relative calm, the situation in crisis-ridden Yemen remains fragile and challenging, and that the country “cannot afford a seasonal peace”.

The Special Envoy underscored the need for the parties to the conflict to make further, bold steps toward a peace that is sustainable and just.

“This means an end to the conflict that promises accountable national and local governance, economic and environmental justice, and guarantees of equal citizenship for all Yemenis, regardless of gender, faith, background or race,” he said.

In his briefing, Grundberg outlined a course of action including an immediate halt to military provocations and a sustainable nationwide ceasefire, economic de-escalation and addressing longer term economic priorities.

He added the parties need to agree a clear path to restarting an intra-Yemeni political process, under UN auspices.

Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, also briefed and told Security Council members that humanitarian needs in Yemen will remain high for the foreseeable future.

In 2023, relief agencies aim to reach 17.3 million people, out of a staggering 21.6 million people in need of assistance, she said, adding that halfway through the year, the Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen is funded at just 29 percent.

“As the political process progresses, we must remain vigilant and active on the humanitarian front. With better funding and more access, we can expand our reach and improve the protection of civilians — but we also need to see support for measures to improve Yemen’s economy,” she concluded.

US dollar dominance diminishing

The US dollar grip as the dominant global currency is loosening, said top economist of credit rating agency S&P Global on Tuesday.

Aggressive US sanctions such as last year's freezing of hundreds of billions of US dollar's worth of Russia's reserves has seen a flurry of countries start to do some trade in currencies other than dollar as well as repatriate gold reserves.

The dollar "doesn't have quite the pull it used to," Paul Gruenwald, S&P's chief economist, said at a conference hosted by the ratings firm in London.

"There's a fragmentation around the edges".

Gruenwald pointed to a number of examples where countries were now circumventing the dollar, "We've got other things happening outside of the dollar world".

He cited the rise in trade done in China's yuan and the cheap financing offered by China-headquartered development banks such as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, formerly known as the BRICs bank.

"The US dollar will continue to be a leading world currency, but it will no longer be the dominant world currency," Gruenwald said.

US dollar sank to a two-month low against its major peers on Wednesday in the lead-up to a key US inflation reading, while sterling scaled a 15-month top on expectations the Bank of England (BoE) has further to go in raising rates.

US inflation data is due later on Wednesday, with expectations core consumer prices rose 5% on an annual basis in June. The figures should also provide further clarity on the Federal Reserve's progress in its fight against inflation.

Ahead of the release, the US dollar fell to a two-month low against a basket of currencies, extending its losses from the start of the week after Fed officials said the central bank was nearing the end of its current monetary policy tightening cycle.

 

Tanker war resumes in Persian Gulf

Iran accuses US Navy of defending fuel smuggling

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander accused the US Navy on Monday of defending fuel smuggling in the Gulf by trying to interfere when Iran intercepted a ship last week.

"On July 06, Revolutionary Guards' Navy personnel were inspecting a ship with the name NADA 2 that was involved in smuggling Iranian oil and gas in the Persian Gulf, which the Americans sought to prevent through a series of unprofessional and risky actions," IRGC Commander Ramazan Zirrahi said in comments reported by Iran's Tasnim news agency.

On July 07, Iran's Fars news agency reported that the Revolutionary Guards had seized a vessel carrying 900 tons of smuggled fuel with 12 crew members, following a court order.

"The Americans flew several aircraft, including two A-10 fighters, and tried until the last moment to prevent the seizure of the vessel, but it was eventually brought to Bushehr port for legal procedures," he added.

US 5th Fleet spokesperson Commander Tim Hawkins had said last week that the US Navy had monitored the interception of the ship in international waters but had decided not to make any further response.

The incident was one of several involving Iranian forces and Gulf shipping last week.

In another incident, the US Navy said Iranian naval personnel had fired multiple, long bursts at the Bahamas-flagged Richmond Voyager managed by US oil major Chevron, following Tehran's claims that the ship was involved in a collision which injured 5 crew members from an Iranian ship.

Chevron denied the tanker was involved in a collision and said it had not been notified of legal proceedings or court orders by Iran regarding the ship.

 

Indonesia seizes Iranian flagged tanker

Indonesian coast guard said on Tuesday it seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, and vowed to toughen maritime patrols.

The MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 tons of light crude oil, valued at US$304 million, when it was seized last week, the Indonesian authorities said.

The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was suspected of transferring oil to another vessel without a permit on Friday, the Southeast Asian nation's maritime security agency said.

The vessel was captured after being spotted in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea, carrying out a ship-to-ship oil transfer with the Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos, the agency's chief, Aan Kurnia, said.

"MT Arman was spoofing their automatic identification system (AIS) to show its position was in the Red Sea but in reality it was here," Aan told reporters.

"So it seems like they already had a malicious intent," Aan said, adding that the vessel also dumped oil into the ocean, in violation of Indonesia's environmental law.

The vessels' operators could not be immediately reached for comment.

Along with the Arman, authorities detained its Egyptian captain, 28 crew and 3 passengers, who were the family of a security officer on board, the agency said.

After the two supertankers attempted to escape, authorities focused their pursuit on Arman, assisted by Malaysian authorities as the vessel sailed into their waters, Aan said.

The Tinos was supposed to have been scrapped in 2018, he added. It was built in 1999 while the Arman was built in 1997, according to shipping database Equasis.

The "shadow" fleet of tankers carrying oil from sanctioned Iran, Russia and Venezuela has been transferring cargoes in the Singapore Strait to avoid detection, a Reuters analysis showed this year.

The risk of oil spills and accidents is growing as hundreds of extra ships, some without insurance cover, have joined the opaque parallel trade over the past few years.

Aan vowed that Indonesia's coast guard, assisted by other authorities, would strengthen patrols in its waters. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, with about 17,000 islands.

"We have to be firm, tough," he said. "There has to be a deterrent effect so it will not happen again."

In 2021, Indonesia seized Iranian- and Panamanian-flagged vessels over similar accusations. The captains of the two vessels received two-year probation from an Indonesian court.

 

United States plans naval logistics hub in India

The United States seeks to transform India into a center for resupplying and maintenance of naval vessels in the South Asia region, where it has been stretched thin with such capabilities.

US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to comprehensive defense and economic partnerships when Modi visited the White House in late June for a summit with Biden.

“The US-India Major Defense Partnership has emerged as a pillar of global peace and security,” the joint statement from the summit reads.

The US will provide India with support to develop infrastructure that will be used to resupply, repair and maintain ships and aircraft.

“We’ll have much more to follow in the near future, but the aim here is to make India a logistics hub for the United States and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, to reporters in late June.

As part of this effort, the US Navy will sign ship repair agreements with Indian shipyards.

The navy has concluded a Master Ship Repair Agreement with the Larsen & Toubro shipyard near the Indian city of Chennai, according to the White House. The navy is close to finalizing separate deals with two other shipbuilders, based in Mumbai and Goa.

The US military looks to build readiness for quickly handling resupply activities and repairs in the Indo-Pacific region. If the navy has access to more hubs in the region, then vessels and aircraft will waste less time pausing operations for both. The time savings can be allocated to joint exercises with other countries.

“There’s a big gap between the bases the United States sustains in the bilateral hub agreements they have in the Middle East and then the Western Pacific,” said Jeffrey Payne, assistant professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. “So, India fulfills this.”

At present, Japan and Singapore serve as key naval hubs for the US in Asia.

Harry Harris, former commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, hailed the initiative.

“Currently, we operate from Diego Garcia and Western Australia in the Indian Ocean,” he told Nikkei via email. “Securing a maintenance, repair, and logistics hub on the Subcontinent is significant as this would give us much-needed flexibility in the vast Indian Ocean region.”

The Chinese navy has about 355 ships and submarines, making it the world’s largest numerically, according to the 2021 edition of the Pentagon’s annual report on China. If American vessels cannot spend more time at sea, then the US will risk falling behind China in terms of naval capabilities, weakening deterrence.

Because the Indo-Pacific is defined by large stretches of water, many believe that conducting supply activities in the region during emergencies will prove more difficult than similar activities in Europe, with its land routes.

“Are we ready today? Yes, we are,” Rear Adm. Mark Melson, commander of the US Navy’s logistics group stationed in Singapore, told Nikkei in an interview in early June. “But I will never claim to be ready enough.”

“We are certainly trying to improve the amount of access into a number of places where we can conduct expeditionary resupply, expeditionary refuel [and] if required, expeditionary rearm,” Melson said.

The Biden administration plans to deepen the partnership with India beyond the Indian Ocean in the maritime space. Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, attended an event hosted by a US think tank at the end of June and touched on strengthening the collaboration with India in the South China Sea.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo in New Delhi at the end of June. The two ministers released a joint statement that backed a 2016 arbitration ruling at The Hague rejecting Chinese claims to nearly all of the South China Sea.

This marked the first time that India expressed support for the Hague ruling, which is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to Gregory Poling, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. It put India in line with Japan and major Western countries on the issue.

India, as a representative of the so-called Global South emerging and developing countries, is gaining a stronger role and voice in the international community.

On the security front, India appears to have shifted focus on relations to the West. Modi’s visit to Washington in June is evidence of this. India on Tuesday hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which was held in a virtual format out of consideration for the US

But the basic theme of India’s diplomacy remains “strategic autonomy,” which entails working with other countries according to its own interests.

In recent years, the US apparently threatened to impose sanctions on India when it sought to acquire air defense systems from Russia. In 1971, the US sent an aircraft carrier to threaten India during the third Indo-Pakistani War. Whether today’s partnership between the US and India will completely dispel the latent distrust of Washington remains to be seen.

 

United States on top in violating women rights, says Iranian Vice President

Ensiyeh Khazali, the vice president of Iran for women and family affairs, has said that the United States at the top of the list of countries violating the rights of women. She said the US and other Western countries are using democracy as a disguise to cover up their problems. 

“With the mask of democracy, defense of human rights, and defense of freedom, the US has been able to cover up many of its problems and introduce itself as a claimant for the defense of human rights in the international community,” Khazali said, according to IRIB News. 

She added, “United States is the main accused and we must show the real face of United States.”

Khazali also said that America does not have a good record domestically on many issues related to women's rights. It allows double oppression of women in many issues related to women's affairs both with the rules it implements internally and with the procedures and functions it has,” Khazali stated. 

The vice president also mentioned some cases of human rights violations in the United States saying, “Women in prison, people who are killed by the police in this country, especially black women, as well as people who are the targets of rape and abuse in the work and office environments and at home, are among these cases, something that if revealed and expressed well, United States ranks first in many crimes and violations of women's rights.”

She continued, “By covering up its crimes, United States becomes a claimant and accuses countries like Iran where women have made significant progress. It oppresses women with a political and illegal move.”

She also referred to the recent developments in France, underlining that the scenes that were seen in France were full of violence and harsh encounters, which cannot be justified under any circumstances.

According to Khazali, the media war they have launched against Iran is absent in these cases and do not reflect many events in France.

She also pointed to the September 2022 unrest in Iran which broke out in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, saying, “Western countries started disseminating propaganda during last year's riots in Iran. We need to know the real face of these countries so that everyone can see how the claimant countries would react if one of the things that happened in France happened in Iran.” 

 

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait claim exclusive ownership of Al Durra gas field

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have exclusive shared ownership of an offshore gas field Al Durra field, also known as Arash field, said Kuwaiti oil minister after Iran claimed it has 40% rights in the field.

The exchange is taking place just as the two largest regional players in the Middle East began to warm up to each other.

In response to Iran statements that it owns a share of the field, Kuwait’s oil minister said this weekend that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had exclusive rights to Al Durra field, which Iran calls Arash field.

"Until this moment, this is an exclusive right of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the Durra field, and whoever has a claim must start demarcating the borders. And if it has a right, it will take it according to the rules of international law," Saad Al Barak told Saudi media, as quoted by Reuters.

The statement follows an earlier one made by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, in which Riyadh also asserted the dual ownership of the field and called on Tehran to first demarcate its own maritime borders. Kuwait echoed the call.

“Iran must first enter into the demarcation of international borders, and after that, whoever has a right will get it according to the rules of international law,” Al Barak told Saudi media last week.

The declarations follow a meeting of the Saudi and Iranian energy ministers last week. At the meeting, Abdulaziz bin Salman and Javad Owji discussed investments in oil and gas, potential joint ventures, oil and gas trade, and the development of joint fields. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia share more than 28 oil and gas fields which have never been exploited due to disagreements in terms of the amount of exploitation and level of access.

The two share Farzad A and B and Arash gas fields, with the Arash field also extending to Kuwait.

The two regional rivals agreed in March to restore diplomatic relations and re-open embassies and missions in an agreement brokered by China after talks in Beijing.