The Batillus was a supertanker built in 1976 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire for the French branch of Shell Oil.

The contract to build the Batillus class supertankers was signed on April 6, 1971, and the first sheet metal was cut in January 1975.

The ship was completed and put in service in 1976, simultaneously with new, purposely built, oil terminal Antifer, near Le Havre, one of very few ports in the world capable of accommodating Batillus class tankers.

They were divided into central and lateral tanks, whose dimensions were designed to considerably reduce the risk of pollution caused by collision or grounding.

Ahead of the international standards of the time, the wing tanks had a maximum unit volume not exceeding 17,000 m3, which was reduced to 9,000 m3 in the most vulnerable parts of ship.