They’re far out at sea. But still close to our lives.

Shuttle tankers: the ships we can’t do without?

At work far beyond the horizon of the North Sea are specialised seafarers few of us have heard of — but on whom our daily lives depend. We went to sea to meet the crew of a shuttle tanker, find out how they work — and to follow a very special cargo from oilfield to refinery.

Gullfaks, 4 May 2026: The lights of the oil platform that were glowing ahead of us moments ago are suddenly shrouded from view by a blizzard. Only our deck lights remain amidst the scudding flakes. Captain Arne Hermundsli (36) on the oil tanker Eagle Balder keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the radar screen.

“If you ask the man in the street, not many people have heard of shuttle tankers. But we’re actually quite critical infrastructure for society,” he says, adjusting the ship’s course with a joystick.

“This is a very specialised part of shipping,” Hermundsli says. “You can’t simply take an officer from a supply vessel and put them to work here. It takes many years to build up the expertise needed for shuttle tanker operations. The courses are long and expensive, and you need to understand everything from loading and discharging crude oil to explosion zones and safety systems.”

And it’s a busy industry these days, he explains.

“In the past, we might spend periods at anchor,” says Hermundsli. “That’s all over now. There are a lot of ships, and the market is tight. The demand for energy from the North Sea to Europe never stops.”

”There are a lot of things that have to be done at the right time. It can be hectic, but I enjoy the responsibility. There are chemical systems, power systems and process systems all over the vessel. You have to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and know a little about a great many things. But if you want a secure job, this is a good industry to be in,” he says.

“At the same time, there are clear requirements from Equinor for how things are to be done, and that’s a good thing. They have also made it a requirement that Scandinavian languages are used on the bridge. It’s all about safe communication and making sure people understand one another,” he says.

“Equinor also carries out its own inspections and vetting — the extensive quality assurance and approval process for vessels operating for oil companies — to check that we maintain the standards expected of us,” says Myklebust.

“My father was an electrician on shuttle tankers, so I always knew this was what I wanted to do,” he says. “Now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Sitting ashore in a nine-to-five job isn’t for me. Here, you wake up at work. It’s a way of life.”

Christiansen describes both the freedom and the challenges of four-week rotations at sea — and how close the crew become over time.

“Sometimes they almost become a second family. We keep track of each other’s lives.”

He is concerned that too few young people know about maritime careers in general, and shuttle tankers in particular.

“Almost nobody knows about seafaring as a career. There’s a shortage of people, and you hardly need to apply — they call you.”

“At the end of the day, we’re shuttle tanker people”

Someone who works actively on recruitment to the industry is Bjarte Kvinge-Askheim, fleet manager at OSM Thome.

OSM Thome operate Eagle Balder for Equinor on behalf of AET Tankers. After many years’ experience on shuttle tankers himself, he now coordinates four vessels in the fleet from the office in Arendal.

“It’s important to show young people that we are at the forefront of technology and the environment. The generation growing up today is more concerned about these things than previous generations,” he says.

“Emissions and sustainable development are very important to us. We are continuously working on projects to reduce emissions from the vessels. The VOC system on board recovers the gases produced during loading and uses them as fuel instead of releasing them into the atmosphere. It is highly sophisticated technology, and only a handful of vessels in the world have this on board. We are proud to be at the forefront of this development.”

“When we have strong partners in the North Sea, such as Equinor and the other operators, it makes it possible to keep driving this development forward. Reducing emissions is really a licence to operate for the entire industry,” he says.

The black gold comes ashore

Gullfaks cargo number 5,000 has reached the end of its journey — for now, at least. Eagle Balder ties up at the oil terminal at Torslanda outside Gothenburg, and discharge can begin.

Large steel pipes carry the oil into rock caverns and storage tanks on land. Representatives from the customer, St1, come on board to mark the milestone together with the crew and shipowner.

“We’re very fortunate to have Equinor as a partner in this market,” says Henrikki Talvitie, chairman of St1.

“The energy market over the past few years has been like a rollercoaster. First came the pandemic, then the energy crisis and geopolitical unrest. In such a market, stable deliveries and good collaboration are absolutely essential. We are very pleased with our cooperation with Equinor.”

“Equinor is very good to work with. We have close contact with the trading teams and the logistics organisation, and the logistics work very well. That makes operations more predictable for us as a relatively small company with a smaller refinery,” he says.

“We are continuously working to optimise operations at the refinery. That is why we use a lot of crude from the North Sea. Gullfaks is a grade that suits our refinery very well.”

Invisible — until they’re no longer there

“Energy matters enormously to society. Oil is still essential for transport, industry and the movement of goods. That is the reality,” says Timo Jokinen at St1 — the customer of Gullfaks cargo number 5000, in Gothenburg.

Heating, transport, clothing, plastics and medical equipment. Much of everyday life still begins with oil and gas from the North Sea — as energy, as raw materials, and as part of the infrastructure modern society is built on.

Most of us rarely stop to think about how oil is transported from offshore fields to refineries along Europe’s coasts. But around the clock, shuttle tankers are travelling back and forth between the Norwegian continental shelf and the continent. Only when supply lines are threatened and energy prices rise do they become visible to the rest of us.

Oil cargo number 5,000 from Gullfaks represents not only a milestone for one field, but a symbol of Norway’s role as a stable supplier of energy to Europe. At a time of geopolitical unrest, cargoes from the North Sea remain part of the energy flow our societies still depend on.

With thanks to the captain and crew of Eagle Balder, and the staff and management of AET, OSM Thome and St1 for their assistance with this story.

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