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Brightoil Petroleum Ltd, one of the largest service providers of marine bunkering in China, has announced that it took delivery last Friday of its second ocean-going oil tanker in Japan, purchased in March this year.

The newly-acquired double-hulled aframax oil tanker, renamed Brightoil Lion, has a capacity of 107,500 DWT and is coupled with 3 sets of cargo pumps, each of which having a discharge rate of up to 3,000 m3/hr and a total maximum discharge rate of 9,000 m3/hr.

Brightoil acquired the vessel after entering into a Memorandum of Agreement with Rasos Shipping Co. Ltd. to purchase the tanker at a price of US$52.5million.

"The Group's capacity to transport oil products will be substantially increased, whilst operating costs will be further lowered. As the Group is actively expanding its global marine bunkering operation, the expansion of the tanker fleet will create greater synergies. Moreover, it can generate additional revenue by chartering out spare capacity," the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the acquisition, Dr. Sit Kwong Lam, Chairman and CEO of Brightoil Petroleum, said, "The Group is determined to create an integrated supply chain for its marine bunkering operation. We are actively developing a global fleet in order to support the rapid growth of our marine bunkering and oil trading businesses. Over the past six months, we have acquired two ocean-going oil tankers with capacity of 107,500 DWT each. It marks an important step towards achieving our goals. "Taking advantage of the significant decrease in ship prices, we will establish a fleet comprising ocean-going oil tankers and marine bunker tankers with sizes ranging from 5,000 DWT to 300,000 DWT through acquisition, leasing or hire-purchase arrangements within this and the next financial year. With the expansion of the fleet, we will be able to capture opportunities brought about by the gradual recovery of the global shipping industry."

The Group now owns two ocean-going oil tankers. The company took delivery of its first ocean-going tanker in Singapore in January.

The double-hulled aframax oil tanker, which was purchased in November 2009 for US$52.5million, has a capacity of 107,500 dwt and an overall length of 243.8m.

Brightoil said it will mainly use its two ocean-going tankers to transport fuel oil and crude oil internationally.

Built to Common Structural Rules (CSR), both vessels are said to have stronger and more durable hull structures. The newly-acquired oil tanker is also equipped with advanced equipment and is eligible for navigation in the European waters.

Dr. Sit Kwong Lam added, "China's marine bunkering sector has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years due to thriving external trade and government policies to open up the bunkering market. According to industry forecast, bonded marine fuel demand in China will escalate to 26 million tonnes by 2015, representing a four-fold increase comparing with the bunker volume in 2008 when the Group has started marine bunkering operation. Brightoil is actively expanding its bunkering business and plans to extend operation to the ports of Rizhao, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao and Rotterdam from the existing ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Shanghai, Zhoushan and Ningbo. Leveraging on our strong foothold in China, we aim to create a global bunkering network covering all major ports in the world."

Plans and Projects

In January, Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Ltd. Chairman Sit Kwong Lam said it was in the market to buy six to eight tankers between 50,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) and 300,000 dwt in size, all during the course of 2010.

The plan forms part of Brightoil's strategy to expand its marine transportation business, aiming to take advantage of the current low price of oil tankers during the current economic climate.

"The group reckons the timing to purchase an oil tanker is highly attractive given the current price of a newly-built high quality tanker vessel is down from around US$80million in 2008. In addition, the group also anticipates benefits from the gradual recovery of the shipping industry," Kwong Lam said in a statement earlier this year.

Brightoil is understood to be planning to spend around US$500 million to acquire the new oil tankers.

Currently, the Group is constructing a 2.2 million cubic metre (cbm) oil storage facility and a terminal with fifteen 1,000 to 300,000-DWT class berths on Waidiao Island, Zhoushan, in the Yangtze Delta. Upon completion of phase one of the project, Brightoil will then move on to the next phase to bring the total storage capacity of the facility to 5.5 million cbm.

Brightoil is also abo to begin construction of an oil facility with a 12 million cbm storage capacity on Changxing Island, Dalian, Bohai Bay. The termincal will be able to accommodate vessels with capacity of 1,000 to 300,000 DW