Wintershall Dea hires another Eidesvik PSV

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Eidesvik Offshore has been awarded a contract for another of its platform supply vessels (PSVs) by Wintershall Dea Norge, a subsidiary of Germany’s Wintershall Dea, for operations offshore Norway.

Eidesvik Offshore disclosed on Friday, 10 March 2023, that it had secured a contract with Wintershall Dea Norge for the PSV Viking Queen. According to the company, the duration of the vessel’s assignment covers a firm period of 12 months with options for further extensions. The new contract will start in 2Q 2023.

Gitte Gard Talmo, CEO & President of Eidesvik Offshore, remarked: “We are very pleased to secure this contract for Viking Queen and appreciate Wintershall Dea’s willingness to commit to solutions that are more environmentally friendly. Our cooperation with Wintershall Dea now includes two vessels and we look forward to further develop our partnership.”

The contract for the PSV Viking Queen comes after Wintershall Dea used an option to extend the contract for the PSV Viking Princess, which is working off Norway.

The 2008-built PSV Viking Queen is of a VS 493 AVANT LNG design with a length of 92,3 meters. It is fueled by liquefied natural gas. It was built by Westcon Yard in Ølensvåg, Norway. This is a dual-fuel platform supply vessel, equipped with a battery hybrid system and a shore power system.

Previously, the PSV worked for Equinor, after the Norwegian state-owned giant initially chartered the vessel back in April 2019 for four months with further options in the charterer’s favour. The company awarded another deal to the PSV in July 2019 for a period of six months, which started in direct continuation of the previous deal.

In February 2020, Equinor awarded a new contract to the PSV Viking Queen for a period of eight months plus options. Another contract took place in March 2021 and stipulated a period of 10 months, along with options for further extensions, should Equinor decide to exercise them, which the firm did in December 2022.