State-owned Kuwait Oil Tanker Co (KOTC) will receive its first tanker this year from South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction earlier than planned, the Kuwait state news agency reported on Tuesday.

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, Kuna said.

In August 2008, KOTC signed a deal worth over $700 million 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 (VLCCs) and three oil product carriers,' Kuna reported.

The cost of each tanker, which was initially set at $177 million, 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 (bpd) of crude in February, according to a Reuters survey. – Reuters