Van Oord signs $500m Caspian Sea deal

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Van Oord has won contracts in the Caspian Sea region with a total value of more than US$500m (£331m).

The wins were announced during this week’s visit of the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte to Kazakhstan.

The first project comprises the dredging of a 68km-long access channel to a new cargo offloading facility to be operated by TenizService. Four cutter suction dredgers will remove a total of some 17 million cubic metres of soil in shallow water. The project will enable the expansion of the Prorva port to help facilitate the growth of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry.

In the second project, Van Oord is performing the preparatory work for the installation of two pipelines in the same region. This project involves excavating and backfilling two 8km-long trenches. In addition, Van Oord is dredging an access channel and the seabed will be levelled.

“With these projects Van Oord contributes to the further economic development of the Caspian Sea region,” said chief operating officer Paul Verheul.