The Yemeni government called on the UN Security Council to hold a special session to take the necessary measures to compel the Houthis to allow the inspection of the shattered oil tanker "Safir", and discuss its crisis, in order to avoid an environmental catastrophe that threatens the region and the world.

The message says the floating tanker is under threat of explosion with more than 1.1 million barrels on board.

The Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad al-Hadrami, appealed to the Security Council to carry out its responsibilities and discuss the issue of Safir Safir in a special session, and obligate the Houthis to allow the United Nations technical team to access the tanker unconditionally, in order to avoid one of the major environmental disasters in the region and the world.

The Yemeni minister called on the Security Council to separate the issue of the floating oil tank (SAFER) from the rest of the issues and measures included in the initiative of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, as an urgent issue.

The reservoir represents a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe on the Red Sea in the event of any leakage from it, which made international actors repeatedly demanding the necessity of resolving the reservoir crisis.

The Yemeni government says that the Houthi group has refused for 5 years to allow an international team to maintain the tank, which the group denies.

The tanker was named after the site where oil was first discovered in Yemen.

The Houthi group requires that the oil in the reservoir be sold in its favor, which is strongly rejected by the Yemeni government, which made the reservoir crisis continue for years.

The oil derivatives crisis

Yemeni governorates under the control of the Houthis suffer from a severe crisis in oil derivatives, which affected many service sectors.

While the Houthis accuse the Saudi-Emirati coalition of not allowing the entry of fuel tankers into the port of Hodeidah, the legitimate Yemeni government accuses the Houthis of fomenting the crisis and refusing to enter fuel shipments into government control areas.

The crisis affects various areas, including the health sector, which is already suffering from the repercussions of the war that has been going on for nearly 6 years.

The causes of the crisis are due to a dispute between the legitimate government and the Houthis over revenue from tax and customs duties for fuel shipments, as the Stockholm Agreement signed in December 2018 stipulates depositing revenue for Hodeidah ports, to contribute to paying civil servants wages.

Sources say that the government stopped issuing permits for any fuel ships coming to the port of Hodeidah, after the Houthis spent about 35 billion riyals of the money for those revenues without an agreement.

At the same time, the Houthis refuse to allow fuel trucks into government-controlled areas, compounding the suffering of millions of Yemenis.