The oil giants are not just busy building gas stations in Romania - they're also building oil tankers. British Petroleum, the world's second-largest oil group, is now closing one of its biggest local deals with the Damen Galati Shipyard.
BP Shipping, a company that belongs to British Petroleum, is in talks with Damen Galati over a contract to build three new oil tankers, sources close to the negotiations told Ziarul Financiar. The order for the Galati Shipyard will be one of the biggest on the Romanian market, as the contract's value is currently estimated at some 80 million pounds ($150 million), the above-mentioned sources added.
"Negotiations with BP are in a very advanced stage, and the banks are set to decide on the contract financing. All the procedures needed to give the go-ahead for the construction of three oil tankers by Damen Galati will be completed in the next two or three weeks," the quoted sources explained, adding that the execution period will range between two and three years.
Officials from the Damen Galati Shipyard volunteered no comments by the time of going to press.
The British giant, with net income worth ten billion dollars and revenues of 235 billion dollars, is now running an expansion and renewal programme for its oil tanker fleet, worth several billion dollars. Following the said programme, the fleet's size will double by 2006, according to information posted on the British group's website. In the past year, BP's fleet has added eleven new oil tankers, with another thirty having been ordered.
Worldwide regulations on oil and liquid gas transportation have been issued, forcing shipping companies to replace their old ships with new ones, with double or even triple wall structures. The increasing number of orders thus means huge opportunities for the shipyards, including those based in Romania.
After a truly difficult period, Romanian shipyards are finally recovering and have even experienced an unprecedented boom ever since last year. The key factor behind this ascending trend is the economic growth posted in Asia (especially in China and Japan), which boosted sea trade and showed shipping companies that they needed to increase their fleets. Due to the surging demand for steel on the Chinese market, sea trade in coal and iron ore has reached all time highs. The same goes for oil.
Damen's deal with British Petroleum does not come as a surprise, since the Galati-based shipyard is preparing to deliver three smaller carriers to the British company by the end of the year.
The Galati shipyard is now building three ships, also for BP, but the Romanian side is dealing only with the execution - the contractor is Damen Bergum from the Netherlands. "However, these ships are smaller than those about to be ordered, with their value of standing at around 45 million euros," the quoted sources maintained.
Damen Shipyard bought 51% in Galati Shipyard in 1999, from the former State Ownership Fund (SOF). Afterwards, the Dutch group increased its stake in the company to 98%.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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