Sadra to build PDVSA quartet

Venezuela’s state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) will acquire four oil tankers from Iran, expanding its fleet with the help of a nation closely allied with President Hugo Chavez.

PDVSA?s subsidiary, PDV Marina, has ordered the newbuildings from Iran’s shipbuilding group, Sadra, at a cost of $277 million. The deal is among various projects involving the two governments, and is also part of Venezuela’s larger plan to expand PDV Marina’s current fleet of 21 oil tankers.

Under the agreement, Sadra has undertaken to deliver the first of the four 104,000 DWT oil tankers to Venezuela within 30 months. The group will then deliver one tanker every six months. Iran has also undertaken to transfer the relevant technology to Venezuela, enabling the country to become self-sufficient in shipbuilding industry in the future.

Sadra is currently constructing three 63,000 DWT oil tankers for the National Iranian Oil Tanker Company, three ships for Naft Khazar Company and four feeders for a German firm. A spokesman for Sadra also said that the shipbuilder has received an order for building 10 LPG carriers from a European company, stressing that the project will be implemented once the European firm finds the required markets for procuring its LPG needs.