Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM), a product tanker player that has been gradually shrinking its fleet through a string of ship sales, may be about to start expanding again.
Brokers in the US and London are identifying the Dubai-based company as the buyer of an MR tanker pair from Scorpio Tankers.
New York-listed Scorpio last week announced the sale of the 50,000-dwt STI Larvotto and STI Le Rocher (both built 2013) for $36.2m each.
Contacted by TradeWinds, managers at GEM declined to comment on the information.
If a deal is confirmed, the two vessels will become the youngest in the GEM fleet.
Until 2012, GEM had been growing with a steady stream of incoming newbuildings that brought the size of its fleet to 19 ships.
In 2018, however, the company shifted into reverse gear with a gradual sales campaign that saw it offload 13 LR1s, LR2s and MR2 tankers on the secondhand market over five years, for total estimated proceeds of about $250m.
As a result, GEM’s fleet shrank to five MR2s built between 2006 and 2009, as well as a single, 15-year-old LR1 tanker.
The company was rumoured to be under shareholder pressure to benefit from sky-high tanker values and sell at least part of its fleet.
The company was launched in 2004 as a joint venture between Dubai’s state-owned Emirates National Oil Co, Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co and the Oman Oil Co.
At a later point, GEM’s website featured French electronics and systems group Thales as a shareholder.
The company’s website currently makes no statements about its shareholders.
Day-to-day operations are overseen by GEM head of fleet Rajeev Kumar Gupta.
Company chairman is Amir Maghami, also chief executive of Global Feeder Shipping — a container ship company majority-owned by state-owned port operator Abu Dhabi Ports.
Maghami is also the chief executive of shipping and transhipment at AD Ports.
