Malaysia's FPSO specialist Bumi Armada has denied reports that it has acquired a Very Large Crude Carrier from Ship Finance International.

The sale of the Front Ariake VLCC was announced on October 1 by the owner Ship Finance International, however, SFI at the time did not say who the buyer was.

It just said that the 2001-built VLCC Front Ariake had been sold to an unrelated third party for $20.7 million.

In a report last week, Intermodal Shipbrokers Co said Bumi Armada was the buyer. According to VesselsValue, the VLCC was sold for conversion.

In a statement on Tuesday, Bumi Armada said: “We refer to recent articles reporting that Bumi Armada Berhad has acquired a Very Large Crude Carrier Front Ariake. The company wishes to clarify that it did not purchase the VLCC Front Ariake.”

Bumi Armada is a company providing FPSO units for the international oil and gas companies. While the company does not have VLCCs in its fleet, it is not unusual for an FPSO to acquire a VLCC. Namely, VLCCs can be converted into FPSO.