Shuttle tanker owner and operator KNOT Offshore Partners LP has secured a charter extension for one of its suezmax vessels, according to its earnings release for the third 2024 quarter.
The partnership said that on December 3, Repsol exercised their option to extend the time charter of the 2013-built suezmax vessel Carmen Knutsen for one year, starting in the first quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, the company reported that the 2013-built aframax vessel Torill Knutsen began on December 2 operating under a time charter with Eni for a fixed period of three years plus three charterer’s options each of one year.
Including those contracts signed since the end of September the company has now just under 96% of charter coverage for the whole of 2024.
In Brazil, the main offshore oil market where the company operates, the outlook is continuing to improve, with robust demand and increasing charter rates, according to KNOT Offshore Partners.
“Having executed a number of new contracts this year, we have established good momentum in a strengthening market and remain focused on filling the remaining gaps in our charter portfolio,” said Derek Lowe, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of KNOT Offshore Partners LP.
To remind, KNOT Offshore Partners LP owns, operates and acquires shuttle tankers primarily under long-term charters in the offshore oil production regions of Brazil and the North Sea.
At the end of September, the partnership’s fleet of eighteen vessels had an average age of 9.9 years, and the partnership had charters with an average remaining fixed duration of 2.8 years, with the charterers of the partnership’s vessels having options to extend their charters by an additional 2.4 years on average.
The shipowner had $980m of remaining contracted forward revenue on September 30, excluding charterers’ options and excluding contracts agreed or signed after that date.
