Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the oil tanker FSO Safer on (a) the environment, (b) the economy and (c) the humanitarian situation in Yemen in the event that the tanker was to fragment or capsize.

UK funded assessments have outlined the catastrophic effects of an FSO SAFER incident. A oil spill has the potential to be four times larger than the Exxon-Valdez and cause up to $20 billion in damages. It would shut down the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef, cutting off life-saving humanitarian aid to Yemen for months, pushing the country even further towards famine. An oil fire would expose 8.4 million people to dangerous air pollution and put 14.9 million at risk of losing their crops.

The UK has kept this issue on the international agenda. We welcome the agreement between the Houthis and the UN on 24 November on the scope of the UN assessment mission, to which we have contributed £2.5 million. The UN estimates it will be able to begin the mission in early February. We are also supporting the development of comprehensive UN contingency plans should a leak occur. We regularly engage with the Houthis at senior levels to press them to facilitate the UN mission and avert a disaster.