AET has bagged a long-term charter contract worth $200m from Statoil to operate two new offshore loading shuttle tankers (OLSTs) on the Norwegian and UK Continental Shelves.
The MISC Berhad subsidiary will handle two specialist DP2 OLSTs under the five-year contract for the Norwegian oil and gas giant.
Samsung Heavy Industries is building the two twin skeg 125,000dwt tankers with delivery slated to be in 2019.
They will be contracted to Statoil to carry out operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf of the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and the southern Barents Sea and on the UK Continental Shelf.
Statoil asset management in Marketing, Midstream and Processing Grete Birgitte Haaland said: “The agreed newbuild state-of-the-art DP2 shuttle tankers will strengthen Statoil’s position for safe, efficient and cost competitive transportation of offshore loaded crude oil production to our customers.
“The fuel efficiency features built into these vessels, including LNG duel fuel capabilities, will significantly reduce operational costs and climate emissions. As such this contract is strongly aligned with Statoil’s sharpened strategy.”
The new OLSTs are expected to be built to have superior specification to withstand the harsh weather conditions in the North Sea for at least 30 years of operations.
Both the tankers will have winterisation features, shaft generators, high power thrusters and the latest version of bow loading system.
The new vessels will join the two AET DP2 ships presently on charter, in the same area on duty for Statoil.
According to Statoil, the existing DP2 tankers on charter are owned and operated by AET Sea Shuttle (AETSS) which is a joint venture of AET and ADS Shipping. The same joint venture will own and operate the two new ships with OSM Maritime Group to provide the lead technical management during the construction.
Image: The shuttle tanker Eagle Barents currently on charter for Statoil from AET. Photo: courtesy of Statoil ASA.