Akofs-Santos

The world’s largest shipowner by fleet numbers is moving into the depressed offshore vessel support field. Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) is teaming up with trading house Mitsui & Co and Norway’s AKOFS Offshore to purchase the subsea support vessel Skandi Santos from DOF Subsea. AKOFS is one of Norwegian tycoon Kristian Røkke’s many offshore ventures. Brazilian energy major Petrobras has chartered the OSV. http://splash247.com/mol-makes-first-osv-move-teams-kristian-rokke/

DOF Subsea has agreed to sell the "Skandi Santos" to a new joint venture being formed by Akastor’s AKOFS Offshore and Mitsui. The sale of the vessel, which has been on charter to AKOFS since 2009, will release about NOK350m ($42.2m) for DOF Subsea after coverage of all costs and repayment of debt. The agreement to sell the vessel to the joint venture was subject to the consent of Petrobras and certain other approvals and conditions, the clearance of which is expected during the fourth quarter 2016.

Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras extended the contract for the Skandi Santos offshore support vessel for an additional five years, maintaining the high-tech ship among the fleet of vessels working to boost oil production off the coast of Latin America’s largest country, ship operator AKOFS Offshore said.The Skandi Santos will continue installing wet christmas trees and other equipment at Petrobras’s ultra-deepwater fields, AKOFS Offshore said. AKOFS Offshore leases the Skandi Santos from DOF Subsea.Petrobras has encountered a shortage of vessels such as the Skandi Santos, which are capable of working in the deep waters offshore Brazil, that has undercut the company’s ability to meet its production targets in recent years. Petrobras wants to increase output by 7.5% to 2.076 million b/d in 2014. That would be up from 1.931 million b/d in 2013.The Skandi Santos was already under a five-year contract to Petrobras that started in March 2010. The new deal will be a continuation of that contract and will start March 1, 2015, AKOFS Offshore said. The deal is worth $388 million. Source: Platts