SCF orders two VLCCs from Chinese shipyard
Russian Sovcomflot Group (SCF) and Chinese Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. signed on December 20, 2010 in Beijing a shipbuilding contracts for two VLCCs, each 320,000DWT, SCF press service said..
The shipbuilding contracts and related time charter agreement for the carriage of goods by PetroChina International is the next stage in the implementation of agreements on long-term strategic partnership, signed in November 2010 in St. Petersburg between Sovcomflot Group (SCF) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The agreement, in particular, provides a further significant increase in the volume of maritime transportation of hydrocarbons by Sovkomflot’s fleet for one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations - CNPC.
The first VLCC tanker is expected to be operational in the forth quarter of 2012. Specialists of Novoship (part of Sovcomflot) will oversee the construction of tankers in China and carry out further technical management of the vessels.
Sovcomflot’s Executive Vice-President Eugene Ambrosov says: "the VLCC tankers segment is a new direction not only for our company but also for domestic shipping in general." According to him, long-term time charter agreements with CNPC will ensure workload for the new ordered tankers.
"These tankers are not used in the Russian trade, as Russian ports are not able to handle such vessels due to their parameters. For the same reasons the construction of such large vessels at the enterprises of the Russian shipbuilding industry and at their foreign partners’ assets, as it is foreseen in the long-term contract with China’s National Petroleum Corporation, is not possible. At the request of our Chinese partners, Sovcomflot’s technical experts, taking into account their knowledge and experience, will assist in organizing the construction of above-mentioned ships at Chinese shipyards," Mr. Ambrosov said.
As PortNews has reported earlier, Sovcomflot and the China Petroleum Corporation signed on Nov. 22, 2010 in St. Petersburg a framework agreement on strategic long-term cooperation.
According to Gibson firm (UK), by the beginning of November 2010 the volume of VLCCs orders regained the pre-crisis level. According to the analysts' estimates, in the third quarter of 2010, global companies placed orders for construction of 21 VLCC tankers, the largest figure since 2008.
Experts say the main reason for the orders increase is the fact that the Chinese government intends to actively increase the oil reserves. According to Gibson, a third of all VLCCs were ordered by the Chinese oil companies.
The second reason of the growing demand for oil tankers is their relatively cheap price. At the moment, the average cost of a super tanker order is about $105m, while the same ship built 5 years ago would cost about $92m. So, it is more profitable for shipping companies to order construction of modern VLCC tankers.
The shipbuilding contracts and related time charter agreement for the carriage of goods by PetroChina International is the next stage in the implementation of agreements on long-term strategic partnership, signed in November 2010 in St. Petersburg between Sovcomflot Group (SCF) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The agreement, in particular, provides a further significant increase in the volume of maritime transportation of hydrocarbons by Sovkomflot’s fleet for one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations - CNPC.
The first VLCC tanker is expected to be operational in the forth quarter of 2012. Specialists of Novoship (part of Sovcomflot) will oversee the construction of tankers in China and carry out further technical management of the vessels.
Sovcomflot’s Executive Vice-President Eugene Ambrosov says: "the VLCC tankers segment is a new direction not only for our company but also for domestic shipping in general." According to him, long-term time charter agreements with CNPC will ensure workload for the new ordered tankers.
"These tankers are not used in the Russian trade, as Russian ports are not able to handle such vessels due to their parameters. For the same reasons the construction of such large vessels at the enterprises of the Russian shipbuilding industry and at their foreign partners’ assets, as it is foreseen in the long-term contract with China’s National Petroleum Corporation, is not possible. At the request of our Chinese partners, Sovcomflot’s technical experts, taking into account their knowledge and experience, will assist in organizing the construction of above-mentioned ships at Chinese shipyards," Mr. Ambrosov said.
As PortNews has reported earlier, Sovcomflot and the China Petroleum Corporation signed on Nov. 22, 2010 in St. Petersburg a framework agreement on strategic long-term cooperation.
According to Gibson firm (UK), by the beginning of November 2010 the volume of VLCCs orders regained the pre-crisis level. According to the analysts' estimates, in the third quarter of 2010, global companies placed orders for construction of 21 VLCC tankers, the largest figure since 2008.
Experts say the main reason for the orders increase is the fact that the Chinese government intends to actively increase the oil reserves. According to Gibson, a third of all VLCCs were ordered by the Chinese oil companies.
The second reason of the growing demand for oil tankers is their relatively cheap price. At the moment, the average cost of a super tanker order is about $105m, while the same ship built 5 years ago would cost about $92m. So, it is more profitable for shipping companies to order construction of modern VLCC tankers.
Sovcomflot Group, founded in 1995, is one of the largest Russian shipping companies. Sovcomflot owns and operates a fleet of 147 ships (over 10m DWT). The company’s newbuilds program includes 18 vessels of total 800,000 DWT. The average Sovcomflot’s tanker age is about 6,5 years (world’s average - 12 years). The Group ranks first in the world in the segment of commodities carriers, the second - in Aframax vessels segment. The company has the world’s largest Ice Class vessels fleet. It is also the top global operator of Arctic shuttle tankers and LNG carriers with Ice Class.