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Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd has announced the purchase of two oil tankers via subsidiaries Brightoil Lucky and Brightoil League.

Brightoil Lucky, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Brightoil has entered into an agreement to purchase the Oil Tanker 1 at a cost of US$57.5 million from Princess Maritime.

Brightoil League, also an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Brightoil, has entered into an agreement with Paradise Maritime to buy the Oil Tanker 2 for US$57.5 million.

The double-hulled vessels, which both have a load-carrying capacity of 115,000 tonnes, were built by South Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction. They are expected to be used for the transportation of fuel oil and crude oil.

According to market sources, Hong Kong-listed Brightoil said the two tankers will be delivered on October 20 and November 30, respectively.

News of the vessel acquisitions comes only a week after the company raised HK$1.04 billion (US$135 million) through a top-up placement in order to fund the development of its oil projects.

The company sold 300 million shares at HK$3.45 a share, representing a 9 percent discount to the closing price of HK$3.79 on July 28.

Also last week Brightoil entered into a memorandum of understanding with Tooltime Holdings Ltd, for the possible acquisition of the entire issued share capital of, and a shareholder's loan due by, target company Access Wealth Holdings Ltd. for HK$1.485 billion (approximately US$191 million).

Golden Sea (Zhenjiang) Petrochemical Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary and the major asset of Access Wealth. The company is principally engaged in a number of operations, including the refining and sale of fuel oil and asphalt, the operation of storage depots for petroleum products and the production, processing and sale of naphtha.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Brightoil plans to expand the storage capacity of an existing oil depot to 600,000 cubic metres (cbm), and to build two additional berths at the terminal, as part of its strategy to generate profit growth.

The oil depot is also set to become the base of oil supply for Brightoil in the Yangtze River Delta region, with the service scope covering every major port along Yangtze River, providing marine fuel to vessels whilst also optimizing the group's bunkering network in China.