London: NYSE-listed Nordic American Offshore (NAO) has extended its credit facility with DNB Bank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
The financing has been increased from of $60m to $150m with maturity in 2020, the company said today. So far $35m has been drawn.
“Currently the market for our vessels is turbulent – the decline in oil price has led to reductions in exploration activity in the North Sea, in turn lowering the number of working oil rigs and the demand for platform support vessels (PSVs),” Herbjørn Hansson, NAO’s executive chairman, told shareholders on March 17.
“Five vessels in our eight vessel fleet are currently employed on contracts, up from three last quarter. Three of our vessels are operating in the spot market.”
In February and March, two of NAO’s vessels were chartered to an unnamed oil major chartered for a firm period of four months.
Two 4,000-dwt platform supply vessels are scheduled to be delivered to NAO in 2015. Norway’s Aukra yard (part of Vard) is building the vessels for delivery in September, which will bring the company’s fleet up to 10 PSVs.
Two new 4,200-dwt offshore supply vessels built by Ulstein, also in Norway, were delivered in January this year.
