Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) announces that Nordic American Offshore Ltd. (NAO) has taken delivery of all six PSV vessels.
Hamilton, Bermuda, January 15, 2014
Nordic American Tankers (NAT) announced today that NAO yesterday took delivery
of the last of the six recently built Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) from the
Ulstein Group of Norway. Â NAO is fully operational. NAT is the sponsor of NAO,
owning 26% of the share capital in NAO. A subsidiary of NAT is the manager of
NAO.
The PSV vessels play an integral role in the logistical chain in offshore
exploration and production of oil and gas. NAO has its six PSV vessels in the
demanding North Sea market, where there are numerous offshore oil platforms that
need to be served. PSVs are highly sophisticated vessels. The NAO vessels
represent the latest in design and technology.
NAO is an important investment for NAT. Three vessels were delivered from the
seller to NAO in December 2013. The last three were delivered in January 2014, a
few days later than planned because of bad weather which delayed necessary
underwater inspections. The vessels were delivered from the yard to the seller
between January 2012 and September 2013.
Five of the six vessels are now on contract employment. Â Unlike the NAT crude
tanker business in which the spot market plays a larger role, contract
employment is more the norm in the PSV charter market. The PSV vessels are on
contracts to major energy companies with an average duration (including options)
of a little over two years with rates between $25,000 and $29,000 per day per
vessel. Like NAT, NAO is expected to have a cash breakeven rate of around
$12,000 per day per vessel.
NAT participated in the private placement of NAO shares in November 2013 with an
investment of $65 million, which was financed by a follow-on equity offering in
NAT at the same time. NAT has previously announced that it expects NAO to list
its shares on the New York Stock Exchange as early as possible, hopefully during
the first quarter of 2014. Â NAT is considering distributing to NAT shareholders
about $10 million worth of NAO shares as a dividend in kind around the time of
listing. This dividend equates to about $0.13 per NAT share. In addition, NAT is
planning to declare a cash component to the NAT dividend expected to be paid in
late February, 2014. Further information will be available when NAT releases its
4Q2013 results on February 10, 2014.
NAO offered the shares at $15 per share or about Norwegian Kroner (NOK) 91.50.
The shares are trading in the Oslo OTC (Over the Counter) market at NOK 98.00
($16.06 equivalent) at the time of this release. NAT expects NAO to pay
dividends to its shareholders, including NAT. Â Dividends received by NAT are
expected, in turn, to be distributed to NAT's shareholders.
Nordic American Tankers continues to enjoy a strong tanker market and NAT will
continue to operate as in the past.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking
statements. Â The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe
harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage
companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-
looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals,
strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other
statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this
cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words
"believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan,"
"potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar
expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various
assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions,
including without limitation, our management's examination of historical
operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from
third parties. Â Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when
made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant
uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and
are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish
these expectations, beliefs or projections. Â We undertake no obligation to
update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ
materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the
strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including
fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker
market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and world
wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including
bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels,
availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and
regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from
pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political
conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or
political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other
important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the
Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus
and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our
reports on Form 6-K.
Contacts:
Scandic American Shipping Ltd
Manager for:
Nordic American Tankers Limited
P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway
Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail: Â nat@scandicamerican.com
Jacob Ellefsen,
Manager, Investor Relations and Research, Monaco
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: + 377 93 25 89 07 or + 33Â 678 631Â 959
Rolf Amundsen, Advisor, Norway
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 800 601 9079 or + 47 908 26Â 906
Turid M. Sørensen, EVP & CFO, Norway
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +47 33 42 73 00 or +47 90 57 29 27
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Press Release (PDF):
http://hugin.info/201/R/1754907/592442.pdf
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Source: Nordic American Tankers Limited via GlobeNewswire
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