The 112,700-dwt Elias Tsakos has been delivered to Tsakos Energy Navigation from Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries and is to commence a long-term charter to Statoil that could bring in up to $100m.
George Saroglou, TEN’s COO, told Splash the firm period of the contract is for seven years, plus extension options for a further five years.
If Statoil chooses to exercise all its options, the 12-year contract will bring in gross revenue of over $100m, he said. The specific daily rate was not disclosed.
Elias Tsakos is the first of nine aframaxes being built by TEN at the Romanian shipyard for charter to Statoil. Three of the tankers are due for delivery this year and five will arrive in 2017.
The other eight vessels will have “similar” contract arrangements, Saroglou said, although the firm periods may be slightly shorter, with a minimum duration of five years and maximum of 12 years including options.
The gross revenues from the nine-vessel project are expected to range between minimum $250m to approximately $1bn, Saraglou confirmed.
“This new cooperation [with Statoil] makes our solid employment base even stronger and increases our profitability. It proves that TEN is positioned as a carrier of choice to blue-chip international oil majors and enhances our uninterrupted dividend distribution record since inception,” Nikolas Tsakos, president and CEO of TEN, said in a release today.
The newly delivered aframax is named after Elias Tsakos, who passed away in April 2015. Elias established Tsakos Shipping and Trading in 1970 with his brother Captain Panagiotis N Tsakos and his cousin Captain Pantelis Efthimiades.
