Government owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Pdvsa) has begun building a double hull tanker fleet to meet tightened U.S. shipping standards.
Its first such tanker, the 86,000 dwt Zeus, was delivered in January to PDV Marina after construction in a South Korean shipyard. Pdvsa formed PDV Marina 6 months ago.
Pdvsa said it is "not going to delegate responsibility for crude shipments" to the huge U.S. market.
Farouk Alireza, a senior executive of PDV Marina, was quoted by the Caracas Daily Journal as saying, "We regard the relationship between Venezuela as a supplier of crude and the U.S. as a market as a very special one," OPEC News Agency reported.
DOUBLE HULL REQUIREMENT
U.S. requirements for double hulls, introduced in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill, will begin taking effect under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for new ships starting in August. By 2010 all tankers entering U.S. waters will have to have double hulls. Shippers also will have to submit contingency plans for handling spills.
"By assuming direct responsibility for our own shipments and by being one of the first companies to present our contingency plan, we are demonstrating that we want not just to comply with the new law but to be a pioneer in this respect," Alireza said.
PDV Marina took over tanker fleets operated by Pdvsa units Corpoven,Lagoven, and Maraven.
Given the double hull requirement, PDV Marina is creating an eight-tanker fleet to take over shipping of Venezuelan crude destined for the six refineries owned by Pdvsa or its subsidiaries in the U.S.
Alireza said a double hull will add about 30% to the cost of a new ship, which means that in the near term at least, there may be a shortage of independent shippers able to make the required investments.
The U.S. legislation imposes heavy penalties in the event of environmental damage caused by negligence.
Alireza noted that although the owner of the vessel and the company that chartered it were to some extent vulnerable to such fines, any penalties would fall most heavily on the owner of the crude-in this case Pdvsa or its subsidiaries.
The new double hull fleet will be able to sail the shallow areas of Lake Maracaibo.
The new tankers are to be flagged out to the Hanseatic Shipping Co., Cyprus, part of the Schulter Group. Operation and management of the ships will be the responsibility of Venfleet, a PDV Marina subsidiary set up in the Bermudas in 1992. Financing for their construction has been made available by a pool of trading houses led by Japan's Mitsubishi.
Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
