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SeaLoading Holding, a Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) subsidiary owning and operating cargo transfer vessels (CTVs), has signed a charter contract for the CTV SeaLoader 2 with Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras.
SeaLoading started a CTV agreement with Petrobras for SeaLoader 2 on a trial period in January 2022 and completed more than 30 crude oil offloading operations from Petrobras’ FPSOs located in the Santos Basin, transferring the cargo to tankers. The trials involved vessels up to VLCC size.
After the successful conclusion of the trial agreement, proving the CTV technology efficiency and reliability, the vessel was placed on a time charter contract with Petrobras. Now, the company also signed a memorandum of understanding with Petrobras to start negotiations for a newbuilding CTV by the end of 2024.
The crude oil produced from offshore fields by an FPSO is usually transported via crude oil tankers, which, requires DP shuttle tankers with special cargo handling equipment to receive crude oil and transport it to an oil storage terminal or calm waters where it can be offloaded or transshipped, and then reloaded onto a crude oil tanker.
In the case of CTVs, the crude oil can be directly loaded from the FPSO to the crude oil tanker by connecting a CTV between an FPSO and the crude oil tanker, increasing the efficiency of crude oil logistics. There are only two such vessels in the world, both owned by SeaLoading, which holds the patent for the technology. |
