Al Shaheen News

Oil tanker operator International Seaways has sold its 50% stake in two floating storage and offshore (FSO) vessels, the FSO Asia and FSO Africa, to its joint venture partner Euronav NV. The purchase price values the two FSO vessels at $300 million in total. Net of adjustments for working capital and expenses, International Seaways received approximately $140 million in cash from the sale.The transaction has been approved by North Oil Company (“NOC”), the operator of the Al Shaheen offshore oil field in Qatar, whose shareholders are Qatar Energy and Total E&P Golfe Limited.

China, the global oil market's lifeline this year, has stepped up purchases from exporters like Russia, the United States and Angola in recent weeks, while buyers elsewhere pare orders as coronavirus infections surge and fresh lockdowns are put in place.China, the world's largest importer of crude, is the only major buyer expected to see increased oil demand this year as the pandemic destroyed consumption globally.With China's imports expected to reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) next year…

Gulf Drilling International (GDI) has signed a three-year contract with North Oil Company (NOC) to provide drilling services through the drilling rig Dukhan for NOC’s extensive development programmes in Al Shaheen oil field.The Al Shaheen Oil Field is a production oil and gas field off the north east coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf, 80 kilometres north of Doha.The subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS) said in a press release that the signing ceremony was attended by GDI’s Chief Executive officer William Ceppi and NOC’s Chief Executive Officer Jacques Azibert. Also in attendance were Mark Gibson, Chief Operation Officer, and Francis Bourcier Drilling Manager of NOC…

Norwegian ocean-bottom seismic specialist Magseis entered into a $233 million deal to acquire the Seismic Technologies business from Fairfield Geotechnologies."Magseis will acquire the Seismic Technologies business from Fairfield comprising data acquisition, nodal and system sale & rental activities, including all shares in Fairfield's wholly owned U.K. subsidiary WGP Group," said a press release from the company.The name of the new business will be Magseis Fairfield. Fairfield Geotechnologies will remain privately held by the Sugahara family through Fairfield-Maxwell and focus its efforts on data licensing and data processing, as well as imaging…

International Seaways announced that its joint ventures with Euronav NV, which own the FSO Africa and FSO Asia floating storage and offloading service vessels, have closed on a $220 million credit facility. Based on INSW’s 50% ownership in the joint ventures, the Company has received $110 million in proceeds from the drawdown of the facility, which it expects to use for general corporate purposes, including to partially fund the previously announced VLCC acquisition. “With the $110 million term loan, International Seaways has further enhanced our financial flexibility while maintaining overall balance sheet strength,” said Lois K. Zabrocky, INSW’s President and CEO. Ms.

Oil major buys various grades from Qatar, UAE, Russia; re-sells Qatar Marine and Sokol. Royal Dutch Shell has snapped up more than 8 million barrels of Middle East and Russian crude oil loading in June and resold some cargoes at higher premiums as it profits from robust demand in Asia, five trading sources said on Friday. The region's pull on Middle East and Russian grades, priced off Middle East crude benchmark Dubai, has strengthened this month as a widening of Brent's premium to Dubai has made competing Atlantic Basin supplies more expensive. Asia's crude demand is also set to rise in the third quarter as refiners return from maintenance to ramp up output to meet peak summer oil consumption.

Oil storage is feasible with low freight rates, capital costs; backwardation pushes traders to churn oil faster from storage. Norway's Statoil ASA has chartered the last remaining Ultra-Large Crude Carrier (ULCC), the world's largest oil tankers, to store oil off of Malaysia for distribution in smaller parcels to its clients in Asia, company executives said. Statoil has booked the TI Europe, capable of carrying up to 3 million barrels of oil, more than the daily consumption of South Korea, to reduce the time it takes for customers to ship their crude, Stale Endre Berg, senior vice president of crude and refining at Statoil, told Reuters on the sidelines of the APPEC conference.

Region's largest bunkering hub shuns Qatari vessels; affected shippers may face delays, higher costs. The costs of Qatari energy and commodity exports are likely to rise as the United Arab Emirates' ban on Qatari vessels cuts the ships off from the region's main refuelling port, forcing ships to sail further for fuel or pay higher prices. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, on Monday cut diplomatic ties with Qatar amid accusations the country supported terrorists. The Arab allies are applying many economic pressure points, including barring Qatari flagged ships from entering their waters. Around half a dozen oil…

Ports in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' barred ships flying Qatari flags after the two countries broke off diplomatic ties with Doha, in a move that raised fears of disruption to oil and gas shipments from the Gulf OPEC member. The Saudi Ports Authority has notified shipping agents not to accept vessels flying Qatari flags or ships owned by Qatari companies or individuals, it said on its Twitter account on Monday, adding that Qatari goods would not be allowed to be unloaded in Saudi ports. "Vessels flying the flag of Qatar or vessels destined to or arriving from Qatar ports are not allowed to call on the Port of Fujairah or Fujairah Offshore Anchorage regardless of the nature of their call until further notice…

Euronav's joint venture with International Seaways (INSW) has signed a contract for five years for the FSO Africa and FSO Asia in direct continuation of the current contractual service. The contract was signed with North Oil Company (NOC), the future operator of the Al-Shaheen oil field, whose shareholders are Qatar Petroleum Oil & Gas Limited and Total E&P Golfe Limited. The new contracts for these custom-made 3 million barrels capacity units which have been significantly converted and that have been serving the Al-Shaheen field without interruption since 2010 will have a duration of five years starting at the expiry of the existing contracts with Maersk Oil Qatar. The existing contracts will remain in force until expiry in the third quarter of 2017.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk and DONG Energy are in talks to merge their oil and gas operations in a deal that would create a business worth more than $10 billion including debt, sources familiar with the matter said. Maersk is working with Bank of America on the potential deal, while JP Morgan is assisting Dong Energy, said the people, who cautioned there is no certainty the parties would come to terms. Maersk said in September it planned to merge or spin-off its energy assets as part of a major restructuring and instead focus on its core transport and logistics businesses.

Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec, will deliver the first al-Shaheen crude cargo to Chinaoil following trades during the Platts Market on Close process that set the Middle East crude benchmark Dubai, traders said on Monday. The Qatari crude, along with United Arab Emirates' Murban, was approved as a deliverable grade by the pricing agency after big trade volumes between the two Chinese companies in August sapped liquidity. The Dubai and Oman benchmarks as assessed by Platts are used to price more than 12 million barrels per day of Middle Eastern and Russian crude exported to Asia. Reporting by Florence Tan

Clarkson Technical Services (CTS) provided staff and know-how to the Euronav / OSG joint venture as they converted the FSO Asia and her sister ship FSO Africa from ULCCs to FSOs. They are now two of the largest and most sophisticated double-hulled FSOs in the world. Euronav / OSG announced their plans to convert the vessels into stationary FSOs back in February 2008, by August 2010 both were fully operational and stationed in the Al Shaheen oilfield near Qatar. The FSO Africa and FSO Asia are two of four sister ships; All were launched in 2002/2003 and went straight into the record books as the first double-hulled ULCCs. At 441,500 DWT with a cargo capacity of more than 3 million barrels, they were the largest ocean-going ships in the world and even had their own size designation V-Plus.

The executive committee of Euronav NV (NYSE EURONEXT BRUSSELS: EURN) reported its preliminary non-audited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. The company had a net result of USD -17.6 million (fourth quarter 2009: USD -23.6 million) for the three months ended 31st December 2010 or USD -0.35 per share (fourth quarter 2009: USD -0.47 per share). EBITDA was USD 34.5 million (fourth quarter 2009: USD 34.3 million). For the full year ending 31 December 2010, the net results before deferred tax are USD 20.2 million (2009: USD -17.6 million) or USD 0.40 per share (2009: USD -0.35 per share). The average daily time charter equivalent rates (TCE) obtained by the company’s fleet in the Tankers International (TI) pool was for the fourth quarter approximately USD 17…

The time charter party of the Cap Victor (2007 -158,853 dwt) with BP and the time charter party of  the Fraternity  (2009 – 157,714 dwt) with Vitol have been extended with 24 and 12 months respectively. On 10 February 2010, the company took delivery of the newbuilding Suezmax Eugenie (2010 – 157,677 dwt)  from Samsung Heavy  Industries, Koje  Island, South Korea. The vessel, which  is owned 50%-50% in joint venture with JM Maritime, is being operated on the spot market. The  storage  contract of  the V-plus TI Europe  (2002 – 441…

At 02:46 on 21 April a fire broke out on the Maersk Oil Qatar operated AD accommodation platform in the Al Shaheen field, 80 km north of Qatar. The fire which took place in the emergency generator room has been extinguished and the situation is under control. All employees are safe and accounted for with no serious injuries. Our primary concern remains the safety and wellbeing of our personnel and those affected by the situation. All non-essential personnel have been evacuated from the platform and crisis counselling made available.

Maersk Line lost market share in container shipping in the first quarter, disappointing analysts who said A.P. Moller-Maersk's  forecast-beating results on Wednesday had been helped by one-offs. While the world's largest container shipping business reported a jump in net profit to $714 million from $454 million, due largely to lower bunker fuel prices, analysts noted the Danish conglomerate failed to announce divestments or investor perks such as share buybacks and additional dividends, as it had in recent quarters.

Platts also studies more ship transfer locations, faster trading. Oil pricing agency Platts is looking at approving more Middle East crude grades to boost liquidity in the daily assessment of Asia's Dubai benchmark, company executives said on Wednesday. Monthly volumes have twice hit records in the past year, raising concerns that cargoes that can be delivered over Platts' pricing mechanism may have hit an upper limit. Also, record daily Dubai crude trades by two Chinese state companies this month have pushed the benchmark higher, even as other grades are pressed lower by a global glut. Output of Dubai, Oman and Upper Zakum - the grades…

Euronav has announce that TI Africa Limited, the owner of FSO Africa, has signed a new agreement with Maersk Oil Qatar AS (MOQ) for the provision of FSO services on the Al Shaheen field offshore Qatar. The contract has a fixed duration of five years beginning 1 October 2012 with an option granted to MOQ to extend the contract period for either one or two years. The new agreement extends to MOQ use of the full capacity and functionality against an increase of the daily hire earned in each contract year equal to the daily hire rate schedule of the existing service contract for FSO Asia, its sister vessel. FSO Asia has been operating on the Al Shaheen field for two and a half years and FSO Africa for over two years.

Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. has announced that a new service agreement has been signed with Maersk Oil Qatar AS ("MOQ") for FSO Africa, a floating storage and offloading service vessel (FSO) jointly owned by OSG and Euronav N.V. (Euronext Brussels: EURN). The new agreement, which supersedes the previous FSO Africa contract, has a firm term of five years commencing October 1, 2012 and provides MOQ with an extension option for an additional term of either one or two years. In addition to the extension of the minimum contract term by over four years, the new agreement provides for an increase in the daily hire rate earned in each firm contract year to the same daily hire rate schedule as for the existing MOQ service contract for FSO Asia, its sister vessel.

'FSO Africa', owned by TI Africa, on long-term contract to Maersk Oil Qatar (MOQ) for services on the Al Shaheen Field. The contract has a fixed duration of five years from 1 October 2012 with an option granted to MOQ to extend the contract period for either one or two years. FSO Asia has been operating on the Al Shaheen field for two and a half years and FSO Africa for over two years. The vessels continue to operate at a high level of performance in terms of quality of oil produced and without incurrence of off-hire since their respective in- service dates. FSO Africa and FSO Asia are the two largest and most sophisticated double-hulled FSOs in the world. They are owned by joint venture companies in which Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. and Euronav each have a 50% interest.

Overseas Shipholding Group’s Q4 2009 results were aided by an unexpected tax credit. OSG reported a loss of $0.59 excluding one-time items versus our ($1.02) forecast and the Street’s ($1.25) forecast. However a $30.5 million tax credit for 2009 against 2004 earnings led to the earnings beat, as earnings without the tax credit would have been ($1.73). The actual cash tax credit will be $43 million, which OSG will receive in 2010. TCE revenues were $5 million below our forecasts on slightly lower utilization than we had expected while G&A costs of $36 million were $5 million higher than we forecast. Management guided stronger 1Q10 results.OSG disclosed that 66% of its spot VLCC days have been fixed at an average of $50,000/day, with 57% of its spot Aframax days done at $25,000/day.

Award to be presented March 23, 2016 at the conclusion of the CMA’s Shipping 2016 Annual Conference and Exposition. Mr. Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav NV has been named as the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) Commodore for the year 2016. Rodgers follows a long succession of influential maritime industry leaders as Commodore. The 2016 Commodore Award will be presented on March 23, 2016 at the Gala Dinner marking the conclusion of the annual Connecticut Maritime Association conference and trade exposition, at the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The Award is given each year to a person in the international maritime industry who has contributed to the growth and development of the industry.