KNOT Offshore Partners has expanded its fleet with the acquisition of a three-year-old shuttle tanker and agreed a sale and leaseback deal for another.

The company bought the 2022-built suezmax Daqing Knutsen from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers (KNOT).

The purchase price for the vessel, built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, is $90m, less $70.5m of outstanding indebtedness, plus $0.3m of capitalised fees related to the credit facility secured by the vessel and subject to customary post-closing adjustments for working capital. The initial cost of the acquisition will therefore be around $24.8m.

The vessel is on time charter to PetroChina in Brazil through July 2027. The charterer holds options for a further five years. As a term of the acquisition, KNOT has guaranteed the hire rate for the vessel until July 2032 on the same basis as if PetroChina had exercised its option through such date, providing the company with approximately seven years of fixed employment.

The shuttle tanker player also refinanced the outstanding debt of the 2020-built Tove Knutsen via a sale and leaseback transaction with a Japanese-based lessor for a lease period of 10 years.

The gross sale price is $100m, and a portion of the proceeds will be used to repay the outstanding loan secured by the vessel and to settle the related interest rate swaps.

Following closing, repayment of the loan, and settlement of the interest rate swaps, the company expects to realise net proceeds of approximately $32m after fees and expenses.

The Tove Knutsen is currently en route to a scheduled drydocking, which is due to commence in mid-July, following completion of a conventional tanker charter.