Two oil & gas firms book DOF vessels for long-term gigs in Norway and Australia

February 2, 2024, by Melisa Cavcic

Norwegian vessel owner DOF Group has won new long-term assignments for two vessels in its fleet. The first deal is in Norway for an anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel while the second one is in Australia for a platform supply vessel (PSV).

While disclosing a new large contract for the AHTS Skandi Iceman, DOF explained that the award would enable it to have two anchor handlers supporting Equinor’s Norwegian operations until 2027 at the earliest. The firm’s AHTS Skandi Vega has been on a charter with Norway’s state-owned energy giant since delivery in 2010.

With a value between NOK 500 million (over $47.8 million) to NOK 1 billion (around $95.64 million), the new contract is expected to build on the long-term relationship between DOF and Equinor for AHTS services. The three-year firm deal, which also entails ROV services, will begin in 2Q 2024 and contains three one-year extension options.

Commenting on the new contract, Mons Aase, CEO of DOF Group, remarked: “This award demonstrates the performance of our anchor handling vessels and our crews. We are very happy to see Equinor selecting DOF for another long-term AHTS contract.”

With a LOA of 93.5 m and a DWT of 4,000 t, the 2013-built AHTS Skandi Iceman is a modern deepsea anchor handler designed for versatile and reliable field work in harsh environments. The vessel can accommodate 45 people.

Aside from the AHTS deal, DOF also revealed a substantial contract, worth between NOK 250 million (about $23.9 million) to NOK 500 million, with an undisclosed, international oil company for the PSV Skandi Kvitsøy. The new two-year firm job comes with two years of extension options.

Thanks to this, the vessel will work in Australian waters, further strengthening the Norwegian vessel owner’s presence in the country. The assignment is slated to start in 1Q 2024. The 2012-built PSV Skandi Kvitsøy is of STX PSV 09 CD design and incorporates the STX bow.

This extension follows another one with Prime Energy Resources Development for a multipurpose platform supply vessel (MPSV) working offshore Philippines. In addition, the firm got its hands on multiple subsea service contracts for one of its construction support vessels (CSVs) in the Asia Pacific region.