Aberdeen-based shuttle tanker owner KNOT Offshore Partners is touting ships for charter or sale in increasingly hot markets.
The New York-listed company said four tankers built between 2011 and 2013 are being marketed due to current contracts expiring.
The shipowner has signed an extension to the existing bareboat charter for the 59,000-dwt Dan Sabia (built 2012) with Brazil’s Transpetro until early June.
And Repsol Sinopec, now known as Repsol Resources, has exercised its extension option for the 156,000-dwt Carmen Knutsen (built 2013), stretching the vessel’s fixed employment to mid-January 2025.
A further year’s option remains available.
The 59,000-dwt Dan Cisne (built 2011) has been returned by Transpetro, however.
The tanker is being assessed for shuttle operations in the North Sea and has also been deployed on short-term conventional tanker contracts in Europe.
The spin-off of Norway’s Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers said it continues to market the 123,000-dwt Hilda Knutsen and Torill Knutsen (both built 2013), and the Dan Cisne and Dan Sabia, for new employment.
It is in “active discussions” with both existing charterers and others, including parent Knutsen NYK.
“While the Dan Cisne and Dan Sabia stand out among the partnership’s fleet as being of a smaller size than is optimal in today’s Brazilian market, we remain in discussions with our customers and continue to evaluate all our options,” the company added.
This includes redeployment in the tightening Brazilian market, deployment to the North Sea and charter to Knutsen NYK or sales.
Fully repaid
In January, the remaining $10.4m of a loan facility secured by the Dan Sabia was repaid in full. The Dan Cisne and Dan Sabia are now debt-free.
There are no plans to incur additional borrowings until KNOT has better visibility on the vessels’ future employment.
Chief executive Derek Lowe said: “In Brazil, the main offshore oil market where we operate, the outlook is continuing to improve, with robust demand and increasing charter rates.
“Driven by Petrobras’ continued high production levels and FPSO start-ups in the pre-salt fields that rely upon shuttle tankers, we believe the world’s biggest shuttle tanker market is tightening materially,” he added.
The secondary North Sea market is taking longer to rebalance but progressive improvement is expected during and beyond 2024, Lowe believes.
“We continue to believe that growth of offshore oil production in shuttle tanker-serviced fields across both Brazil and the North Sea is on track to outpace shuttle tanker supply growth in the coming years, particularly as increasing numbers of shuttle tankers reach or exceed typical retirement age,” the CEO said.
Loss in fourth quarter
The 18 ships brought in revenue of $73m in the fourth quarter, up from $66m a year ago.
The net loss was $5.3m, against a profit of $6m. This was due to a loss on derivatives.
There is $63.9m in available liquidity.
The fleet operated at 99.6% utilisation in the period.
