KOTC to get tanker before due date

State-owned Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) will receive its first tanker this year from South Korea's Daewoo Engineering Construction earlier than planned.

The first of a fleet of four 318,000-tonne tankers will be delivered in October, earlier than the 2011 due date after a fall in demand for tankers on the back of the global financial crisis, , news agency Kuna reported yesterday.

In August 2008, KOTC signed a deal worth more than $700 million (Dh2.57 billion) with Daewoo for the four tankers.

"The new addition is part of the second phase of our fleet renewal plan involving the construction of four Very Large Crude Carriers and three oil product carriers," Kuna said.

The cost of each tanker, which was initially set at $177m, will be cut by Daewoo due to the decline in demand, Kuna said. It did not state the new cost of the tankers.

Kuwait, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, pumped 2.3 million barrels per day of crude in February, according to a survey.

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