The company said that it will become the first company in the US to own a US flag carrying shuttle tanker for use in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.
This double hulled tanker, which will be fitted with additional equipment to increase maneuverability, can receive oil from floating production storage and offloading vessels and transport it from deepwater areas without pipeline access to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Upon completion, Aker American Shipping will lease the vessel to OSG America, who has in turn time chartered the vessel to Petrobras America, for use in transporting crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The shuttle tanker will serve Petrobras’s Cascade and Chinook fields, about 250 miles south of New Orleans.
Rob Kurz, president of Aker American Shipping, said: This is a very significant milestone for Aker American Shipping. Shuttle tankers represent an exciting new market and we are looking forward to opportunities to own more of these vessels.
