NYSE-listed tanker owner and operator Tsakos Energy Navigation has signed a six month storage contract for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) with an unnamed client.
According to the company’s fleet list, the company currently operates one VLCC – the 1998-built, 301,171 dwt Millennium. TEN expects this contract to bring the company around USD 10 million.
‘ ‘Accretive transactions like the one announced today is proof of the strong tanker market currently in evidence due to the drop in oil prices, which on its own merit offers TEN significant benefits on two fronts. On the first, it allows for strong spot rates which our flexible and diversified fleet takes advantage of while on the second, it materially reduces voyage expenses,” George Saroglou, Chief Operating Officer of TEN said. ”This drop in oil prices is expected to sustain the current strong cycle for crude tankers and provide a welcoming boost for product carriers as well.”
The sliding oil prices have instigated a trend among the traders to charter supertankers to store crude for future sale. Back in January, oil traders chartered fifteen supertankers with the storage capacity of around 30 million barrels.