The US oil and gas giant Chevron has expressed its opposition to any training cost-cutting exercises in the maritime transport sector.

In a statement, Chevron Shipping operations vice-president Alexander Walker insisted that the macroeconomic conditions must have "zero impact" on the amount of time and funding that it is ploughed into tanker safety and training for seafarers.

"As an operator this means we will provide training and resources to our people and maintain our ships. As a charterer this means we will be looking carefully at the ships we hire," he told Lloyd's List.

Elsewhere, Portworld has reported that Total, Chevron and BP are all continuing to transport oil using tankers with single hulls, either on the spot market or for long-term contract.

Double hulls became common after the Exxon Valdez disaster twenty years ago. Single hulls, which are prone to more substantial leakage, now make up 20 per cent of the world's tanker fleet.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development