KNOT Offshore Partners played down the potential impact of the growing shuttle tanker newbuilding orderbook, as it reported first-quarter results on Wednesday.
The company said it was aware that up to six newbuildings had been placed recently, for delivery between 2026 and 2027.
Sponsor Knutsen NYK has ordered three new shuttle tankers to be chartered to Petrobras, while TradeWinds has reported that Greek owners Maran Tankers and Tsakos have been linked to orders.
These new orders bring expected deliveries to a total of 11 within the coming three years.
“We anticipate that all these new orders are backed by charters to clients in Brazil and see this as a sign of confidence in the medium/long-term demand for the global shuttle tanker fleet,” KNOT Offshore Partners said.
“While delivery of these orders will add to the supply of vessels into the global shuttle tanker fleet, 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.
“As the largest owner and operator of shuttle tankers, we believe we are well positioned to benefit from such an improving charter market.”
KNOT Offshore Partners reported a first-quarter profit of $7.4m, turning around a year-ago loss of $1.3m.
It said the market for shuttle tankers in Brazil, where 13 of its vessels have been operating, continued to tighten in the first quarter of 2024.
This has been driven by a significant pipeline of new production growth over the coming years, a limited newbuilding orderbook and typical long-term project viability requiring a Brent oil price of only $35 per barrel.
In contrast, shuttle tanker demand in the North Sea has remained subdued because of the impact of Covid-related project delays.
“We expect these conditions to persist for several more quarters until new oil production projects that are anticipated come on stream, most notably the long-anticipated Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, which is scheduled to come online during the latter portion of this year,” the shipowner said.
