Troubled Middle East shipowner Polarcus is facing legal action after the seizure of its fleet meant it could not service a charter contract.
The Oslo-listed company lost six of its seven seismic survey vessels to its banks in January after defaulting on a loan due to the end of a waiver deal with the lenders.
Polarcus had arranged a one-month charter with Eni for 3D survey work in the Asia Pacific region last July. The job had been due to start in the first quarter.
But the owner said on Monday that the vessel assigned to the charter has not been made available to the company, and an alternative unit could not be sourced.
Eni has now cancelled the deal and indicated that it intends to pursue the relevant Polarcus subsidiary for damages.
Polarcus has not revealed the potential sum involved.
TradeWinds reported at the end of February that Bergen-based shipowner and investor Tom Steckmest has emerged as chairman of companies in control of the former fleet of Polarcus.
The move took place a week after Norway's DNB Bank and export credit agency Giek repossessed the six ships.
One ship left
Polarcus has retained control of one vessel, the 4,711-gt Vyacheslav Tikhonov (built 2011), which is bond financed, with three years' charter employment in place with Russia's Sovcomflot (SCF Group).
The Middle East owner had been in the process of downsizing before that move, but some 250 employees are understood to have lost their jobs through the bank action.
In January, Polarcus had indicated that all employees would be made redundant.
