SANAA (Debriefer)--A virtual meeting between the office of the UN envoy to Yemen and the Houthi group failed on Friday to reach an agreement on the Safer oil tanker which is decaying off Yemen's western coast and at risk of exploding or sinking.
An agreement for conducting urgent assessment of the tanker could not be signed because the UN ignored our technical notes on an August agreement for accessing and conducting initial repairs to the tanker, the group said in a statement carried by the Sanaa-based Saba news agency.
The tanker has not had maintenance for five years. It is moored off Hodeidah seaport, with around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil on board.
Our representatives were surprised that a team from the UNOPS did not include our notes in a copy of the agreement sent to them and then refrained from signing, it said, without giving more details.
Discussing what has already been discussed is a waste of time at a time when an urgent action is needed to address the issue, oil minister in the Houthi government, Ahmed Abdullah Daris, said.
Meanwhile, Debriefer learned that the group insists on getting guarantees to receive the revenues from the sale of crude oil aboard the tanker.
