OSV sales

The offshore supply vessel (OSV) fleet is being pulled into a lot of new global opportunities. Wind is only going to keep taking more vessels, and we expect wind to start on all coasts eventually. Even though vessels are being reactivated, they have a lot of new opportunities which can take them out of the oil and gas market. These demands on the global OSV fleet are going to keep increasing and the builders are not building any new OSVs. Out of 148 vessels that were sold up to the fourth quarter, 28 vessels were either converted out of market or scrapped. A total of 45 vessels have been reactivated within the last two years, with more than half being anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels. With market conditions in the OSV sector improving steadily.

Many OSVs companies have been involved in large vessel acquisitions, for instance Hornbeck Offshore announced in February 2023 that it had entered a decisive vessel purchase agreement with Nautical Solutions LLC, an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore, to acquire a total of six high specification new generation platform supply vessels (PSVs). President and CEO Todd Hornbeck, commented, "We are very excited about this additional acquisition, which continues our growth strategy for the benefit of our employees, oilfield and non-oilfield customers and other constituents. We continue to explore our strategic plans for additional growth and business diversification initiatives as we look to the future."

On the other hand, the sale of Solstad's fleet of 37 PSVs to Tidewater at a price of $580 million was completed on July 5, 2023. All 37 vessels have now been delivered to Tidewater, a deal which reduces Solstad's interest-bearing debt by approximately 6 billion Norwegian krone (NOK) — $562.6 million.

The resale value of older tonnage is not likely to improve too much because the oversupply of idle vessels is so large around the world. Nevertheless, the resale value of high-specification vessels and the new-generation PSVs delivered 10 years ago is expected to increase over the next few years. There is so much overhang of laid-up vessels, even though the charter rates may be going up for active boats, the boats that have been laid up several years are beginning to become high in demand. Market conditions are such that the resale value of PSVs is rising. In addition, according to industry sources, there is an increasing interest for financing the acquisition from behind of the banking sector. The OSV sector will continue improving steadily. Day rates are expected to rise in the near term, and continued attrition is likely to make the remaining fleet even more expensive.

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.