Bermuda-based Teekay Offshore Partners LP has announced that its 51 percent-owned subsidiary, Teekay Offshore Operating LP (OPCO), has signed a master agreement with Statoil ASA replacing an existing volume-dependent, life-of-field contract of affreightment (CoA), and covering fixed-rate, life-of-field time-charter contracts for seven dedicated shuttle tankers.

The new agreement, which is effective from September 1, 2010, requires the vessels to be chartered under individual fixed-rate, life-of-field time-charter contracts to service Tampen and Haltenbanken fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf while the number of shuttle tankers covered by the agreement may be adjusted annually, mirroring the adjustments in tonnage under the existing CoA.

It also stipulates that the fixed-rate nature of time-charter contracts is expected to provide OPCO with more seasonally stable and predictable cash flows compared to the CoA arrangement.