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Vard lands 15 vessel order from Topaz Energy and Marine

Norwegian offshore shipbuilder Vard has secured a contract from Dubai-based Topaz Energy and Marine for the design and construction of 15 module carrier vessels.

The Vard 9 21 vessels are designed to navigate the shallow river systems in order to transport modules through the Russian waterways to oilfields in Kazakhstan.

The contract, worth close to $300m, will see nine of the vessels built at Vard Braila and Vard Tulcea in Romania, with six to be built in Vietnam at Vard Vung Tau.

Roy Reiter, CEO of Vard CEO, commented: “We are honoured to have been selected by Topaz to develop the tailor-made vessels for this project. Vard has long history of projects for the Caspian region, with seven vessels specifically developed for shallow-water operations delivered since 2010. Topaz currently operates three vessels built by VARD in the Caspian, and has two light construction vessels for international operations on order from Vard. This project strengthens our relationship with Topaz and our foothold in the region. It also provides significant employment for our Romanian and Vietnam yards for the next two years, at a time when investment in new vessels for the oil and gas sector is limited elsewhere.”

Delivery is scheduled from the third quarter of 2017 and the vessels will be operated by Topaz through a consortium led by Blue Water Shipping for end-client Tengizchevroil.

Grant Rowles

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.
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