Norwegian offshore vessel operator Eidesvik Offshore has secured a contract extension for one of its platform supply vessels (PSVs) with Wintershall Dea Norge, a subsidiary of Germany’s Wintershall Dea, for operations offshore Norway.
Wintershall Dea Norge hired the PSV Viking Queen in March 2023 for 12 months with options for further extensions. The new contract was set to start in 2Q 2023.
According to Eidesvik, Wintershall Dea and OMV, which seem to be sharing this PSV, have declared an option to extend the contract for the vessel, thus, the contract extension will run from May 2024 in direct continuation of the current contract, extending the firm period to October 2025.
Gitte Gard Talmo , CEO & President of Eidesvik Offshore, commented: “We are very pleased with this extension and consider it as a quality mark for the operations and services delivered.”
The 2008-built PSV Viking Queen is of a VS 493 AVANT LNG design with a length of 92.3 meters. It is fueled by liquefied natural gas. Constructed by Westcon Yard in Ølensvåg, Norway, this is a dual-fuel platform supply vessel, equipped with a battery hybrid system and a shore power system.
Previously, the PSV worked for Equinor, after the Norwegian state-owned giant initially chartered the vessel back in April 2019 for four months with further options in the charterer’s favour. The company awarded another deal to the PSV in July 2019 for a period of six months, which started in direct continuation of the previous deal.
In February 2020, Equinor awarded a new contract to the PSV Viking Queen for a period of eight months plus options. Another contract took place in March 2021 and stipulated a period of 10 months, along with options for further extensions , should Equinor decide to exercise them, which the firm did in December 2022.