The board of directors of Bermudian-based Golden Ocean Group Limited, the world's largest listed owner of large-size dry-bulk vessels, has appointed Lars-Christian Svensen as interim chief executive of Golden Ocean Management AS.

Ulrik Andersen, CEO of Golden Ocean Management AS, has decided to step down.

The company said Mr Svensen, Golden Ocean’s chief commercial officer, has a solid background within the industry and a profound understanding of the company and its organisation.

Mr Andersen will be available for the company until September 1.

"I would like to thank Ulrik for his contribution to Golden Ocean. He has led the company through a period of fleet growth and fleet renewal. I wish Ulrik success in his future endeavours," said Ola Lorentzon, chairman of Golden Ocean.

Gulfdrill contract extensions

Gulfdrill LLC, the 50:50 joint venture between Bermudian-based Seadrill Limited and Gulf Drilling International, has been awarded contract extensions by a leading operator for three jack-up rigs working in Qatar.

Seadrill said the West Castor jack-up rig, which is bare-boat chartered to Gulfdrill by Seadrill, received a contract extension, together with the two jack-up rigs that are bare-boat chartered to Gulfdrill by a third-party shipyard.

The total contract value of the three contract extensions is approximately $343 million and extends these contracts until 2026.

DHT acquires carrier

DHT Holdings Inc, the Bermudian-based crude oil tanker company, has agreed to acquire a very large crude carrier built in 2018 at Hyundai Heavy Industries for $94.5 million.

The vessel is scheduled to deliver during the third quarter of 2023.

The company said it will finance the acquisition with available liquidity and projected mortgage debt, and it is expected to be accretive to DHT’s earnings per share.

DHT said it was built to a high specification by its existing owner, is fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system and will further improve the DHT fleet efficiencies, including its annual efficiency ratio and energy efficiency operational index metrics.

Avance in building contract

Avance Gas Holding Limited, the Bermudian-based company engaged in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas, has entered into a new building contract with CIMC for the construction of two mid-sized LPG/ammonia carriers with dual fuel engines that can run on LPG as fuel in addition to compliant fuel oil.

The ships will have a cargo capacity of 40,000 cubic metres and scheduled delivery from the Chinese company is during the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.

As the ships will also be equipped with shaft generators, this will further improve operation and maintenance cost while improving the environmental profile.

In addition to transporting traditional LPG cargoes, the vessels will also be fully able to carry ammonia cargoes.

Contract price is approximately $61.5 million per vessel.

Avance Gas will have an option to order two further new buildings at same terms.

Oystein Kalleklev, CEO of Avance Gas, said: “These ships are not only perfect for the LPG trade but also ammonia trade as parcel sizes for ammonia cargoes tend to be in this size lot.

“Given the high expected growth of the ammonia trade, this makes the ships a very attractive addition to our fleet where we already have two VLGCs ready for burning ammonia and two VLGCs for delivery next year which can both carry and burn ammonia.

“Given the substantial cash balance in Avance Gas of $220 million at end of first quarter and the strong bookings for second and third quarter, we have the capacity to fully finance these ships without adversely impacting our strong dividend capacity.”