Teekay shuttle tanker

Teekay Offshore Partners Confirms Two More Shuttle Tanker Orders

Teekay Offshore Partners has brought its ordering tally at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to six shuttle tankers, the company confirmed.

Image Courtesy: Wartsila

Namely, in July 2018, Teekay Offshore Partners signed a contract with SHI for two additional LNG-fueled Aframax DP2 shuttle tanker newbuildings.

The duo is due for delivery in late-2020 and early-2021.

World Maritime News reported on the order in early July , however when asked for a comment Teekay’s spokesperson said it could not confirm the deal.

The first units from the batch were ordered in August 2017 in a contract covering two firm and two optional units.

The additional two shuttle tankers were ordered in November 2017, bringing the construction cost of the quartet to USD 265 million. The ships will provide shuttle tanker services in the North Sea under Teekay Offshore’s existing master agreement with Statoil ASA (Statoil).

SHI marked the construction start of the first LNG-powered shuttle tanker from the series by hosting a steel cutting ceremony at its shipyard in Geoje, Korea on July 2.

Teekay Offshore Partners reported GAAP net loss of USD 168.5 million, impacted by USD 181.4 million of non-cash asset impairments, and adjusted net loss of USD 0.7 million for the second quarter of 2018.

“For the second quarter, our results came in better than our guidance driven mainly by stronger than expected results from our shuttle tanker contract of affreightment (CoA) fleet and lower operating expenses on various FPSO units,” commented Ingvild Sæther, President and CEO of Teekay Offshore Group Ltd.

“However, as expected, our overall results were down from the previous quarter primarily driven by lower rates on the Voyageur Spirit and Ostras FPSO units as a result of contract extensions, higher interest expense and liquidated damages received from a towage newbuilding delivery last quarter, partially offset by the start-up of the Petrojarl I FPSO in May 2018.”

The Voyageur Spirit FPSO has secured a contract extension to at least April 2020, and the Ostras FPSO got a contract extention to November 2018, plus extension options, providing additional forward fixed revenues of over USD 70 million.

“In July 2018, we refinanced our 2019 bond maturities and the USD 200 million promissory note due in 2022 with a new USD 700 million unsecured bond offering, which significantly improves the partnership’s debt maturity profile and further highlights Brookfield’s continued strong support of the partnership with USD 300 million of new capital provided by Brookfield towards this bond offering. Following the bond offering, Brookfield exercised its option to acquire an additional 2% of our general partner, bringing its ownership interest in our general partner to 51%,” Sæther  added.

World Maritime News Staff