Tanjung Offshore said three of its recently received anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels will commence charter services for energy company Petronas Carigali.

Under the $44.5m agreement the Malaysian firm will deploy its newbuild 5,450bhp vessels in March 2010, the company said.

Tanjung Biru 1, Tanjung Biru 2 and Tanjung Sari will be supporting Petronas drilling operations off Sabah and Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.

The company has agreed to charter two of the vessels for three years while the third will be in service for four years, Tanjung said.

The vessel contracts carry options for extensions for up to six years.

With the new deliveries Tanjung’s offshore support vessels fleet reaches 14.