Greece and Saudi Arabia are joining forces to evacuate and tow a Greek-owned oil tanker Sounion, which was attacked last week in the Red Sea by the Houthis.
The tanker was targeted by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah as the Iran-aligned Houthis has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
According to Bloomberg, the plan to evacuate the tanker involves transferring the oil inside (approximately 150,000 tons) to another vessel, while Sounion will be towed to a safe port, probably in Djibouti.
Greek, French and Italian ships from the European Union’s Aspides naval operation will escort the tanker and the Saudis will likely oversee the oil transfer.
The Houthis have agreed to allow the tugboats to remove the Sounion. The group later released a video of their attack on the Greek-owned oil tanker.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, European partners and key regional players, including Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have successfully cooperated to make the evacuation possible.
Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis said on Thursday that he spoke with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister to ensure that “this matter will be handled as safely as possible.”
This evacuation comes after conflicting reports emerged during the past week over whether the Sounion was leaking oil into the Red Sea or not.
A statement from the Pentagon on Tuesday, August 27 indicated the tanker was still burning and appeared to be leaking oil, whilst the EU’s Aspides mission later reported there was no oil spill from the Greek-flagged tanker.
In the absolute worst-case scenario, a leak of all Sounion’s cargo would represent the fifth-largest spill on record, surpassing incidents like the 2018 Sanchi spill near China.
Source: Bloomberg.
