International Observers Watch for Major Oil Spill Following Houthi Oil Tanker Attack

Fires burn aboard the oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea on Aug. 25, 2024. European Union's Operation Aspides via AP

International observers continue to monitor for signs of a major oil spill in the Red Sea after Houthi rebel forces struck a tanker vessel carrying more than a million barrels of crude oil in a recent explosive attack.

The Houthis, a U.S. designated terrorist group, claimed responsibility for striking the Greek-flagged MV Sounion on Aug. 21 as it transited the Red Sea. The Yemeni faction posted footage online last week, purporting to show the tanker being set ablaze.

The French Navy reported rescuing 29 sailors from the Sounion shortly after the attack. The crew appeared to have dropped anchor before abandoning the vessel.

“I am extremely concerned about the situation regarding the tanker MV Sounion, which was targeted while transiting the Southern Red Sea,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO), said in a Wednesday statement.

As of Aug. 28, a European Union-led operation—EUNAVFOR Aspides—assessed that the Sounion caught fire on Aug. 21, two days after the initial attack, and has remained ablaze ever since.

Operation Aspides officials reported on Wednesday that the fires continue to burn from multiple points on the ship.

The EU maritime security mission assessed no oil appeared to be leaking from the vessel as of Wednesday, and the abandoned ship remained anchored in its position. The EU maritime mission still advised nearby vessels to proceed with caution, as the abandoned ship “poses both a navigational risk and a serious and imminent threat of regional pollution.”

Dominguez said the risk of an oil spill is “extremely serious” and “there is widespread concern about the damage such a spill would cause within the region.”

Houthi fighters and tribesmen stage a rally against the U.S. and UK strikes on Houthi-run military sites near Sanaa, Yemen, on Jan. 14, 2024. AP Photo

Spill Could Harm Millions

Tens of millions of people could be impacted if a large oil spill were to occur in the Red Sea, a major shipping lane connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Inger Andersen, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, estimated in July 2020 that 28 million people rely on the Red Sea and its coastal zone to sustain their livelihoods. At the time, Andersen was raising alarm about a potential oil spill from a floating oil storage and offloading vessel, known as the FSO Safer, which remains moored north of the Yemeni city of Al Hudaydah after being damaged in 2015 during the Yemeni Civil War.

Last year, the U.N. oversaw a successful mission to transfer around 1.1 million barrels of oil from the SFO Safer to a replacement vessel to avert a potentially devastating oil spill.

Dominguez said the IMO stands ready to assist in addressing the safety, security, and environmental risks posed by the abandonment of the Sounion.

A satellite image shows the Belize-flagged ship Rubymar in the Red Sea on March 1, 2024, after being struck by a Houthi missile on Feb. 18. Maxar Technologies via AP

“I continue to monitor the situation closely and reiterate my call for an immediate end to the illegal, cowardly, and unjustifiable attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea area,” Dominguez continued.

The long-running Yemeni Civil War has largely died down following a U.N.-brokered cease-fire agreement reached in the Spring of 2022. The Houthis continue to retain control over large swathes of Yemeni territory.

While the Yemeni internal conflict has wound down, the Houthis have increasingly looked to conflicts beyond their borders. The Yemeni rebel faction has targeted commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea with drone and missile attacks since October, asserting solidarity with the Palestinian people amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas battle in the Gaza Strip.

While U.S. and European naval forces have intercepted many of the Houthi drone and missile attacks, the Yemeni faction has managed to damage and even sink multiple vessels.