Statoil has awarded Samsung Heavy Industries, the construction of two twin skeg 125,000dwt tankers.
The tankers will be due for delivery in 2019 and will be contracted to Statoil for operations both in oil fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf of the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and the southern Barents Sea as well as on the UK Continental Shelf.
Statoil said the superior specification with a fatigue life based on 30 years of operations in the North Sea, they will be fully capable of working in the harshest of weather conditions. Each will be equipped with winterisation features, high power thrusters, shaft generators and the latest generation of bow loading system.
Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, chairman, AET Sea Shuttle AS (AETSS) and president & CEO, AET, said: “We first forged a partnership with Statoil in 2012 when we were awarded a long-term contract to operate two state-of-the-art shuttle tankers in the North and Barents Sea. I am delighted that Statoil has recognised and endorsed the quality of our operations in this most demanding of environments by giving us a further opportunity to support their business with two additional state-of-the-art DPSTs. We believe, as part of the MISC Group, our strategic partnership and our innovative solutions gave us the edge over other operators in the North Sea.
He added that “Statoil is global leader in this region and I am confident that we will deliver on the trust they continue to place in our capability to deliver flawless operations in this challenging region. We are proud to be extending our partnership with this world leading oil company.”
ADS and OSM group chairman, Bjørn Tore Larsen said: “This is a great opportunity for us to extend our successful partnership with AET. We have been operating in this region for many years and extending the joint venture cements our relationship both with AET and Statoil. I firmly believe that the combination of technical, operational and commercial skills delivered through the joint venture will continue to provide Statoil with an ocean transportation solution that is second to none”.
