Construction continues on an FSRU for a Polish energy company and an CSOV for a German joint venture. Orders have meanwhile been placed for a subsea installation vessel and two FPSOs. Lastly, a Russian design firm has unveiled images of a new standby vessel capable of operation in polar waters.
Norway's Solstad Offshore and Netherlands-based SBM Offshore have agreed to order a newbuild multi-purpose deepwater installation and construction vessel, with targeted delivery in the first half of 2029.
The parties have formed a joint venture company that has entered into a letter of intent with a selected shipyard for the construction of the vessel.
The vessel will be owned by a newly established joint venture, in which Solstad Offshore will hold a 50.1 per cent ownership interest and SBM Offshore 49.9 per cent. Solstad will act as ship manager.
SBM Offshore has secured contracts from Petrobras for two floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) projects in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin. Under the agreements announced on May 29, SBM Offshore will design, construct and operate the SEAP-I and SEAP-II FPSOs.
Consortia led by Petrobras will own the FPSOs, which SBM Offshore is scheduled to operate for an initial six and a half years under separate operations and maintenance agreements.
The design of both units will employ the company's standardized multi-purpose hull design programme, incorporating its 11th and 12th multi-purpose floater hulls.
Russia's Topaz Design Bureau has unveiled concept images of a new standby vessel that will support operations at offshore oil and gas platforms.
Vessels belonging to the Project TDSV01 series will be capable of operation even in ice conditions, thus ensuring year-round standby support for offshore platforms.
Each vessel in the series will have a length of 80.3 metres, a beam of 16.9 metres, a maximum draught of four metres, and a deadweight of 1,700. Construction will be undertaken in compliance with the requirements of the Arc5 notation of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.
South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has launched a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) ordered by Polish gas transmission company Gaz-System.
The vessel will measure nearly 295 metres long and 46 metres wide upon completion. Its tanks will hold 170,000 cubic metres of LNG.
By the end of 2027, the vessel will arrive at the Gulf of Gdańsk and will form part of Poland’s first FSRU Terminal, Gaz-System said in a press release. Commencement of regasification services is scheduled for the first quarter of 2028.
Norwegian shipbuilder Vard has begun conducting sea trials of a new commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) ordered by German joint venture company Windward Offshore.
Windward Munich is the third in a series of hybrid CSOVs to be acquired by Windward Offshore. Windward Athens, the first vessel in the series, was handed over in late 2025 while Windward Paris, the second in the series, was delivered earlier this year.
As with her sisters, Windward Munich is classed by DNV and sails under the flag of Malta.