International Seaways, one of the largest tanker companies worldwide providing energy transportation services for crude oil and petroleum products, announced that it has completed a transaction in which the Company has sold its 50% stake in two floating storage and offshore (FSO) vessels to its joint venture partner Euronav NV. The purchase price values the two FSO vessels at $300 million in total. Net of adjustments for working capital and expenses, International Seaways received approximately $140 million in cash from the sale.
The transaction has been approved by North Oil Company (“NOC”), the operator of the Al Shaheen field, whose shareholders are Qatar Energy and Total E&P Golfe Limited. The two FSO vessels have been serving the Al Shaheen field without interruption since 2010.
“Our participation in the FSO joint venture with Euronav has provided stable cash flows for more than 11 years for International Seaways and its predecessor,” commented Lois K. Zabrocky, President and CEO of International Seaways, Inc. “For the past several months, we’ve evaluated options to unlock the value of the joint venture in cash in order to further strengthen our balance sheet and support our long-term value creation strategy, which, over the last five years, has included a transformational merger and vessel purchases at cyclical lows, maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning nearly $100 million in capital to shareholders since the start of 2020. We thank Euronav for their partnership, and we are confident that they will continue to operate these vessels with the highest standards.”
Hugo De Stoop, CEO of Euronav said, “This represents an important strategic milestone for Euronav and allows us to provide in full a significant source of long-term earnings visibility for our shareholders. Euronav has for many years maintained operational control of these assets and it makes sense now for us to assume full economic control. International Seaways has been a strong and reliable partner since 2008 and we are grateful for their support. These operational units have already provided substantial value to our customer since 2010 and the long-term contracts reflect Euronav’s operational capability in diversifying activities beyond the traditional crude oil transportation sector and generating superior returns on capital.”
INCREASED REGULAR CASH DIVIDEND
Additionally, the Company announced that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.12 per share for the second quarter of 2022. The declaration represents an increase of $0.06 per share from the Company’s historical quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share since the start of 2020. The dividend will be paid on June 29, 2022, to shareholders of record at close of business on June 17, 2022.