The Lykiardopulo family has joined Ridgebury Tankers in cashing in a veteran VLCC to FPSO specialist Yinson Holdings, market sources said.
Kuala Lumpur-listed Yinson is understood to be paying $60m for the two tankers as it looks to secure tonnage for upcoming projects.
The VLCCs follow the acquisition of another large tanker by Yinson from John Fredriksen’s Ship Finance International in late 2018.
TradeWinds reported on Friday Ridgebury was selling the Ridgebury Eagle (built 2002) for $29m in a deal which marked a tidy profit for the Bob Burke-led company.
Yinson is understood to be the buyer of that tanker and is paying a further $31m to Lykiardopulo company Neda Maritime for the 309,000-dwt Apollonia (built 2003).
Market sources said the ships have been purchased without the long subjects typically associated with offshore conversion projects.
They attribute the premium pricing to rising sentiment in the tanker market around IMO 2020 and the high specification of the tankers, originally ordered by Mosvold Shipping at Samsung Heavy Industries.
The latest pair are sisters to the 309,000-dwt Front Falcon (built 2002) which Yinson bought from Ship Finance in December for $30m and is now converting for a Petrobras project.
The purchase of sister vessels makes sense for Yinson as it will lead to savings in the conversion process, TradeWinds is told.
The company is currently involved in the bid processes for a number of FPSOs, including a unit for Aker Energy’s Greater Pecan project off Ghana and two vessels due for deployment on Petrobras’ Marlim and Parque das Baleias fields in Brazilian waters.
According to TradeWinds sister publication Upstream, a letter of intent has been signed with China’s CIMC Raffles to convert the Front Falcon, now named Falcon, into the Marlim 1 FPSO.
Neda is an established player in the VLCC market, with the Apollonia the oldest of its six ships in the segment.
It also has a 2005-built VLCC and four others built in South Korea in the past decade.
As TradeWinds has reported, VLCC asset values and time charter rates have been climbing amid positive sentiment around the introduction of IMO 2020 sulphur emissions laws.
Iain Esau also contributed to this article
