SHI delivers 1st of four Petrobras-chartered shuttle tankers to AET

AET, a petroleum logistics unit of Malaysian energy logistics group MISC Berhad, took delivery of Eagle Petrolina, the first of four Suezmax Dynamic Positioning (DP2) Shuttle Tankers purpose-built for long-term charter to Brazilian oil and gas major Petrobras.

Eagle Petrolina was built at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in South Korea, where her three sisters are currently under construction and due to be delivered later this year.

The four 152,000 DWT vessels have been built to Petrobras’ technical requirements for DP2 shuttle tankers in a collaboration with SHI, DNV-GL and Eaglestar and will be in full compliance with IMO NOx Tier 3 and SOx emission requirements, AET said.

Each vessel is equipped with electrical driven cargo pumps for enhanced fuel efficiency, high power thrusters and are fully capable of operating in weather conditions expected for their class.

Eagle Petrolina was delivered to AET on 22 May 2020 and is scheduled to start operations in mid-late June joining the two vessels AET already operates in the Brazilian Basin for Petrobras.

“Constructing and delivering Eagle Petrolina safely amid the COVID-19 outbreak is a big accomplishment and testament to the commitment of all parties involved. I would like to thank everyone from Samsung Heavy Industries, Eaglestar, DNV-GL, Petrobras and AET for the excellent collaboration and management to deliver this milestone,” AET President & CEO Capt. Rajalingam Subramanian said.

“For AET, seeing the agreement we reached with Petrobras two years ago now coming into operation is another important step in growing our specialist DP activities in the Brazilian Basin and our partnership with Petrobras.”

AET currently operates seven DP shuttle tankers and has a further 10 shuttle tankers under construction to be delivered between 2020 to 2022.

These include those contracted in late 2019 and the one from February 2020.

Namely, in December 2019, AET secured three long-term time charter contracts by Brazil Shipping I Limited, a Shell group entity.

Under the terms of the deal, AET will own and operate three newbuilding Suezmax Class DP shuttle tankers for operations in international and Brazilian waters.

The long-term time charter for the three vessels is expected to begin in 2022 and has an estimated contract value of $245 million.

In February 2020, AET won a $525.6 million charter deal with Petrobras for three Suezmax shuttle tankers, intended for operations in Brazilian and international waters.

The long-term time charter is expected to commence in 2022.