Baltic Dirty Tanker Index down John Fredriksen up

John Fredriksen and daughter Kathrine Fredriksen was over 1 billion richer in the past week  [1Norwegian Krone equals 0.17 US Dollar]

Over the past two years the changing tide of the industry has caused a collapse in crude freight rates. The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index, which measures the cost to move oil across the sea, has sunk to around 638 recently from 1,077 in January 2010, even as the global economy has improved.

At the same time, the global tanker fleet hasn't adjusted to the reduced haulage demand. This year, the total capacity of tankers in the global fleet is likely to grow 4.6%, and next year tanker supply is expected to rise 1.9%, according to a January-dated report from Clarkson Capital Markets. That far surpasses Clarkson's projected demand growth of 2.3% for 2013 and 1.5% for 2014.

"There is such an overhang with supply that to say that freight rates will increase in the out years is premature

 Frontline Ltd., which operates a large fleet of very large crude tankers (VLCCs), will lose $2.33/share this year in earnings and $2.09 next,  the recent price of $1.93. Global Hunter has an even worse view for the stock, with the price headed to 50 cents.

Nordic American Tankers Ltd., which operates a tanker fleet, is expected to lose money this year and the next. The stock was recently trading at $9.16.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that the US will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer in seven years and will become a net oil exporter around 2030.

U.S. crude oil exports doubled in February to a 13-year high of 124,000 barrels per day (bpd), government data showed on April 29+, as shipments of surplus shale crude to Canada gathered pace.   Most of the exports have flowed from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to plants in Canada's east, which lack pipeline access to Alberta's oil sands and are dependent on foreign crude. The exports have not generated significant domestic opposition, since Canada remains a huge net exporter of oil to the United States, sending around 2.7 million bpd south from both conventional and growing tar sands production.

[April 9]
Hire rates for very large crude carriers on the benchmark voyage between Saudi Arabia and Japan slipped 0.2 percent to 31.91 industry-standard Worldscale points. Costs declined 6.3 percent April 2. Each of the ships can hold 2 million barrels of oil.

There are 87 tankers available in the gulf over the next 30 days. The global VLCC fleet’s total carrying capacity will rise 5.1 percent this year, above demand growth of 4.9 percent.
 Frontline Ltd.’s shares fell to the lowest since May 1999 in March and slumped 95 percent since the end of 2007. The stock slid 1.5 percent to 12.75 kroner by the close in Oslo trading April 2.

VLCCs are losing $3,012 daily on the benchmark Saudi Arabia-to-Japan voyage, figures from the Baltic Exchange in London showed. That compared with a $29-a-day loss as of March 28.


[September 10, 2012] John Fredriksen bases his latest investments on the plunging prices of vessels rather than on economic and petroleum growth forecasts, which he says are too uncertain to be useful. At $535 million, the cost of a deep-water rig in Singapore yards is down 31 percent from its 2008 peak, and Chinese and South Korean shipbuilders are accepting new supertanker orders for about $80 million, half of what they cost at their high in 2007.
“Basically, I’m a trader,” says Fredriksen, who rarely talks to the media. “I think as we are sitting here we are very close to the bottom of the market, and I like to be a buyer at the bottom. This is the game.”


[May 28'11]The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued two traders and the companies they worked for, Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA and its Parnon Energy Inc. affiliate, alleging that in 2008 they amassed and sold off a substantial position in physical crude oil to "manipulate future prices." The companies are controlled by John Fredriksen's Farahead Holdings, of Cyprus.
The VTN Shipping group is actively involved in the multiple facets of chartering, ship management and ship owning.

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Farahead Holdings Limited forming part of a group of companies which include
Frontline, SeaDrill, Arcadia Petroleum and Golar LNG Ltd.

The VTN Shipping Group has been incorporated in Cyprus since November 2006.

Vessel's name: V8 Stealth Last updated: May 20, 2011
Ex-name(s): Not Applicable IMO number: 9436018
Flag: Marshall Island Call sign: V7SW7
Port of Registry: MAJURO Summer DWT: 112871 MT
Type of vessel: Oil Tanker Built: Nov 23, 2009
Type of hull: Double Hull Owner: MAYHEM CRUDE Inc
Class Society: American Bureau of Shipping Operator: NAVIG8 SHIPMANAGEMENT PTE LTD

more


Kathrine Fredriksen is a board member of oil trading company Arcadia Petroleum

BW Austria: Sohmen-Pao LPG tanker escapes

6 January 2011

At 0700 GMT on Thursday 6 January, BW Austria, a vessel operated by BW Gas, was attacked by pirates. The pirates fired a grenade towards the vessel before aborting the attack. There are no reported injuries to the crew or damage to the environment. The Master reports to have the situation under control and all relevant authorities have been duly notified.

The incident took place while the vessel was transiting the Arabian Sea at 21º10N & 63º17E, about 250 nautical miles east of Oman. The vessel was carrying 46200 metric tones of LPG from Ras Laffan to Sri Racha in Thailand, and will continue her voyage to the next destination.

About BW Austria
BW Austria is under Norwegian flag. She is a 84,603 cbm very large gas carrier built in 2009.

About BW Gas
BW Gas is a leading global provider of gas marine transportation services. BW Gas is a subsidiary of the BW Group, which is one of the world’s leading maritime groups involved in offshore oil and gas production and transportation. Through its predecessor companies, Bergesen and World-Wide Shipping, the BW Group has been delivering energy and other vital commodities for more than 70 years. The BW shipping fleet includes crude oil supertankers, refined oil tankers, LNG and LPG carriers.

9370537 BW AUSTRIA LAFY7 LPG Tanker 54707 2009 Norwegian International Register


A naming ceremony was held at E1 quay for DSME H.2320, an LPGC with a capacity of 84,000 CBM for BW GAS on the 10th of March.
Present at the ceremony were around 70 people, including Dr. Helmut Sohmen, Chairman of the Board of BW Gas Limited;


The World's Billionaires [For billionaires with publicly traded fortunes, net worths were calculated using share prices and exchange rates from February 12, 2010.]
#721 Helmut Sohmen
Austrian citizen settled in Hong Kong almost 40 years ago and married daughter of shipping tycoon Yue-Kong Pao.

Net Worth: $1.4 bil
Fortune: Inherited and Growing
Source: shipping
Age: 70
Country Of Citizenship: Austria
Residence: Hong Kong
Education: Southern Methodist U, Doctor of Jurisprudence; U of Vienna, Bachelor of Arts / Science
Marital Status: Married, 3 children
Austrian citizen settled in Hong Kong almost 40 years ago and married daughter of shipping tycoon Yue-Kong Pao. Now chairs BW Group, whose fleet of over 140 oil tankers and gas carriers is one of world's largest maritime groups; includes publicly traded company BW Offshore and privately held BW Maritime, BW Fleet and BW Gas (delisted last year). Obtained $3 billion loan last year to aid in restructuring debt. Recipient of China's Friendship Ambassador award for his contributions to China-Austria ties. Southern Methodist University law school alumnus, supports a graduate scholarship program for Chinese lawyers studying at SMU's Dedman School of Law. Oxford and Harvard-educated eldest son, Andreas Sohmen-Pao, is chief executive of BW Maritime and BW Gas.

WEDDINGS; Doris Lee, Andreas Sohmen-Pao
Published: September 13, 1998

Doris Susan Lee, a daughter of Young Sook Lee and Dr. Chol Lee of Grymes Hill, Staten Island, was married yesterday to Andreas Sohmen-Pao, a son of Anna Sohmen and Dr. Helmut Sohmen of Hong Kong. The Rev. Richard Leonard performed the ceremony at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan.

The couple, both 27, received M.B.A. degrees from Harvard University.

The bride, who graduated from Princeton University, is the Asia regional director of new media in Hong Kong for Time Inc. Her father, a psychiatrist in Sunnyside, Staten Island, is the director of inpatient psychiatric services at St. Vincent's Hospital in West Brighton, Staten Island. He was the chairman of the Korean American Medical Association in 1996.

The bridegroom graduated from Oxford University in England. He is the general manager of Starform Services Limited, a building material manufacturing company in Hong Kong, of which his mother is the founder and chairwoman. His father is the chairman of the World-Wide Shipping Group and of N & T Argonaut, a shipping company, both in Hong Kong, and of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, an association of nongovernmental organizations.


Mr Sohmen-Pao, who is the grandson of legendary Hong Kong shipowner YK Pao, is now based in Singapore helming BW Shipping Managers.

He is also deputy chairman of Bergesen, the crown jewel of Norwegian shipping, which in a spectacular move in 2003 was acquired by the Sohmen-Pao family of Hong Kong's World Wide Shipping.

World Wide, founded by the late Mr Pao, was headed by Mr Andreas' father Helmut Sohmen and now merged with Bergesen under the BW group, with the elder Sohmen as chairman.
As of the 1st of April, 2004, Doris Sohmen-Pao,will be assuming her new role of Director of the INSEAD MBA Programme, Europe and Asia campus. Doris will be based in Singapore, also spending a significant amount of time in Fontainebleau.

In 1997 Doris graduated with an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She spent
most of her post-MBA career in media, both as a consultant for Price Waterhouse as well as in industry at Time Inc. where she was the International Director for New Media.

Doris also has experience in the educational sector, having taught in the US and in Singapore as well as having served on the Board of Trustees for Princeton University from 1993 until 1997.

Doris is Korean by nationality, she was brought up in the USA and has spent the last seven years living in the USA, Hong Kong, London and Singapore. Her husband Andreas is half Chinese, half Austrian.


Sohmen Pao family set to acquire Bergesen
Norway's largest shipping company, Bergesen d.y. ASA announced today that its two controlling shareholders, cousins Morten Bergesen and Petter Sundt, had accepted a cash offer to sell their stakes in the company to World Nordic, a firm set up by the Sohmen Pao family of Hong Kong to take over Bergesen.

Bergesen's and Sundt's acceptance immediately gave Sohmen Pao interests 51.5 percent of Bergesen, paving the way to assumption of full control in a deal that values Bergesen at $1.42 billion.

The Sohmen Pao family controls Hong Kong's World Wide Shipping Group, founded by the legendary Sir Y.K. Pao
In a notice to the Oslo Stock Exchange today, World Nordic stated that it had acquired 16.575.106 A-shares in Bergesen d.y. ASA, constituting the total number of shares previously held by the two cousins, at a price of NOK 180 per share.

The sellers have sold on the condition that the buyer puts forward an offer to the other shareholders, based on the same price, adjusted for the proposed dividend of NOK 7 per share.

World Nordic has also notified the Oslo Stock Exchange that it has acquired 5.144.228 A-shares and 4.698.893 B-shares in Bergesen from Tauro Company Limited, another Sohmen Pao controlled entity

World Nordic now holds 21.719.334 A-shares and 4.698.893 B-shares in Bergesen, constituting 51,5% of the company's voting A-shares and 26,9% of the company's non-voting B-shares. World Nordic's total shareholding in Bergesen consists of 26.418.227 shares, constituting 44,3% of the total number of shares in Bergesen.

World Nordic has confirmed to the Board of Bergesen that it will put forward a mandatory offer to buy all the shares in Bergesen in accordance with the regulations in the Securities Trading Act, clauses 4-1 and following. The offer will be based on a price of NOK 180 per A-share and NOK 155 per B-share, adjusted for the proposed dividend.

Bergesen d.y ASA emerged as a listed company in 1986, controlled by the Bergesen/Sundt family, with about 80 percent of the shares. Other family members sold their shares the same year, while Morten Sig. Bergesen and Petter C. G. Sundt remained significant shareholders.

Morten Sig. Bergesen said today that shareholders had benefited from the company's listing in terms of shareholder rights and protection, increased share value of their shares and a more liquid share. However, the company had also been put in a more exposed position. In recent years, the Sohmen Pao family had accumulated a considerable shareholding in the company. They have on several occasions expressed their long term perspective and have confirmed their interest in the company's strategy and operation.

"As shareholders, Petter C. G. Sundt and myself have evaluated what options and possibilities we had, that in the end could benefit the company and all the shareholders," said Morten Sig. Bergesen. "We worked on the idea of submitting an offer for the entire company ourselves, and were in discussions with a large finance institution in Norway in this respect. We concluded that we were not able to take on such a large challenge without serious consequences for the company in terms of sale of a major part of its activities."

He said that an important factor in deciding to sell was the buyers' confirming their commitment to continue to run the company along the same lines as today from Norway, thereby confirming "that it is not the mere steel value that has attracted their interest, but also the software in Bergesen."

Andreas Sohmen Pao, who is Sir Y.K. Pao's grandson, commented that World Wide was founded in 1955 and is today mainly focused on VLCCs, with a fleet of about 9 million dwt, and an average age of around 8 years.

"We are a strong group, focused on people, and committed to shipping" he said and continued: "What I see here today is one of the finest shipping teams in the world. When you combine the Bergesen talent ashore and at sea with the talent in World-Wide, I believe we without question will have the No. 1 shipping team in the world."

"As far as strategy is concerned," he said, "we believe that Bergesen is on a sound track. I can commit to you now that the head office of Bergesen will remain in Oslo and that the existing team will be entrusted to carry the company forward, as long as it is prepared to accept the responsibility. Bergesen will operate as an independent company much as it is today, with an independent management team reporting to the company's board of directors. Daily operational decisions will be handled locally by the existing team, while major strategic decisions will be referred to the board."

Jan Haakon Pettersen will be appointed as the new managing director of Bergesen effective from the end of this year. Svein Erik Amundsen will continue in his current post until that time, and will join the board of directors effective 24 April 2003. "I am also pleased to announce that Morten Sig. Bergesen has agreed to remain on the board as a director. We are delighted to have these extremely capable individuals to help us ensure a smooth transition," said Sohmen Pao, who concluded by stating: "I see a great future ahead for Bergesen and World-Wide."


Andreas Sohmen-Pao, Group CEO of BW Maritime


Fredriksen, a lawsuit against Sohmen
. - Limits to the immoral, "said John Fredriksen's closest associate.
Updated: 10/01/2011 - 6:39
John Fredriksen says Helmut Sohmen will pay too little for shares in gas company BW Gas. This week, flipped the two shipping giants together in court in Bermuda.

Fredriksen gas shipping company Golar LNG refuse to accept the redemption offer by Helmut Sohmen family company at NOK 21 per share for his 240,000 shares in BW Gas.

Apparently we are dealing with small change when the court is in Hamilton in Bermuda later today. But it is only apparent.
After the claims can be enormous. In March 2009 thanks Fredriksen yes to the 21-million offer for 18 million BW Gas shares that he owned privately.. Findings suggest that Frontline-owner will demand back payment if the court gives Golar LNG claim that the real value-adjusted equity for the BW Gas is in the range 50-60 million. Golar would prevail, the claim from Fredriksen's company Geveran Trading could reach 500-700 million.
. - It borders on the immoral when Sohmen on the one hand to sue the Norwegian government for losses resulting from it later converted tax decision, while in Bermuda use the same decision to enrich themselves at the expense of minority shareholders, "said Fredriksen nearest staff member Tor Olav Trøim. BW Gas chief Andreas Sohmen-Pao says he looks forward to trial and a decision. He is aware that the court must make its valuation based on what was the situation in 2009, not today. Neither Helmut Sohmen or John Fredriksen appear in person.