SPT Expands Caribbean Ship-to-Ship Oil Transfer Service

Oil lightering specialists SPT announce expansion of service offshore Cayman Brac after signing agreement

Houston based SPT Inc., specialists in ship to ship (STS) transfer (lightering) of crude oil and liquefied natural gas has announced expansion of its STS service for oil majors and traders in the Caribbean.

SPT Inc's President Simon Duncan has signed an initial deal with Cayman Island’s Premier Bush to revive crude oil lightering offshore Cayman Brac. This follows new ship to ship transfer capability announced last year in the Bahamas for SPT, building on its permanent ship to ship transfer location in its southern Caribbean base at Aruba.

The details of the Cayman arrangements have not yet been finalised, but promise to aid Cayman Brac’s economy with the port benefiting from the additional commerce that visiting ships generate such as replenishment of stores and services. Each lightering undertaken provides direct employment of skilled mooring masters, ship’s pilots and crew at the port.

The Cayman operation complements SPT’s new oil and gas transfer capability just 250 miles north in the Bahamas, strategically located as an eastern gateway to the Gulf of Mexico and just two days’ steam to the US Eastern seaboard; as well as SPT’s STS base 800 miles south in Aruba, providing a flexible location for oil companies and traders to make deliveries to the US Atlantic Coast, US West Coast, island refineries and storage in the Caribbean and ports in South America, providing advantage of economies of scale for customers to utilize larger ships including VLCC’s and ULCC’s, trading cargo to or from the US Gulf and the Caribbean markets.

SPT has an outstanding safety record and currently performs service for clients such as Valero, BP, and Shell. The company provides all the necessary personnel, equipment, vetting and expertise including Mooring Masters, Mooring Master Assistants, and equipment including OCIMF recommended fendering - Yokohama fenders with aircraft tire caging for optimum hull protection as standard, in addition to state of the art Yokohama Seaflex cargo transfer hoses for clean and dirty cargo transfer.