(Yicai) Oct. 16 -- Titan Wind Energy, a major Chinese maker of wind power equipment, said it has secured a USD45 million contract to build a floating production storage and offloading vessel that will be used for offshore oil and gas extraction in Southeast Asia and expects the project to bolster its position in the marine engineering sector.

A unit of Titan Wind will build the special-purpose vessel for OceanSTAR Marine and Offshore Investment, a Singaporean energy project contractor, its Suzhou-based parent company said yesterday. The vessel’s construction will take 22 months.

Titan Wind is one of the world's largest suppliers of wind towers and turbine blades. As global demand for clean energy increases, the company has established itself as a key player in this sector, but is also expanding into marine engineering equipment, which has become a growing part of its business.

FPSO ships extract, process, store, and transport crude oil and natural gas from offshore sites.

Titan Wind's production base in Nantong, a city in Jiangsu province near the mouth of the Yangtze River, will provide one-stop services ranging from the ship's design and hull construction to device installation and testing, the firm noted, without revealing any further details.

The deal will help Titan Wind deepen its cooperation with international clients, increase its competitiveness in the global market, and build itself into a leading marine engineering equipment maker with both design and manufacturing capabilities, the company pointed out.

Nearly 62 percent of Titan Wind’s revenue comes from the sale ofwind towers and turbine blades, according to its latest annual earnings report, while marine engineering equipment accounts for almost 20 percent.

Shares of Titan Wind [SHE: 002531] closed 1.9 percent lower at CNY7.88 (USD1.10) apiece today. The broader Shenzhen market fell just over 1 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione