People

Vardline is a partner-led practice.

The people who sell the work are the people who do it. Between them, our partners cover concept and FEED, the yard, tow, hook-up and connection, client representation at every stage, the marine and offloading systems that keep a unit producing, and the valuation and inspection of the asset itself.

Surinder Pawar

Chief Executive Officer · Houston

An owner’s leverage is highest before the contract is signed, and mostly spent by the time steel is cut.

Surinder has spent close to forty years developing, selling and delivering offshore production systems, and building floating assets. He knows how the other side of the table thinks.

A chemical engineer by training, he began in process design, writing the PFDs and P&IDs behind production systems, and moved into country management in Venezuela, then Latin America, then global roles. He built Cameron do Brasil from a standing start to USD 75 million of sales in two years, carried a USD 340 million P&L across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, led global sales and marketing for a USD 600 million product line, and later ran global operations for TechnipFMC’s production solutions business.

He joins from Hanwha Ocean, where he ran the FLNG product line as Senior Vice President.

Practice areas

Production systems: Process and production system delivery for FPSO, FSO, FLNG and FSRU units, from FEED through commissioning and first gas.
Newbuild delivery: Yard selection, build strategy and owner’s representation through construction and conversion.
Commercial and contracting: Contract strategy, tendering and negotiation with yards, EPC contractors and equipment vendors.
Market entry: Establishing and running offshore operations in new markets and jurisdictions.

Chemical engineer · FLNG & FPSO delivery · Production systems · New market entry · P&L

Kjetil A. Walland

Partner, Marine & Technical Delivery · Oslo

Anyone can run the analysis. Knowing when it is wrong takes having built it.

Mariner since 1990. Master Mariner, DP adviser and Marine Warranty Surveyor, he has spent his career across tankers, offshore construction, drilling units, floating production and offshore wind, and most of it as the client’s representative rather than the contractor’s.

He has been the owner’s man in the yard for newbuild drilling units in Asia, from follow-up through commissioning and start-up, and in the marine department of a four-rig newbuild programme for the Norwegian shelf. Offshore he has been client representative on subsea installation projects, including turret and submerged turret loading system installations, owner’s marine representative through FSO hook-up and connection in West Africa, and vessel lead on an operator’s vessel management team. He has been tow master and mooring master on rig moves, and has run the marine side of hook-up and connection campaigns from sail-away to first oil.

For oil majors he has developed the methods and calculation tools used to compare vessel capability and mitigate risk. He builds the tools rather than only applying them, which is unusual in this field and shapes how Vardline works. DP FMEA and trials are part of that toolkit rather than the point of it.

In offshore wind he was marine representative on Sheringham Shoal and site manager on Equinor’s Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm. At Vardline he leads client representation and holds technical authority for what leaves the firm.

Practice areas

Dynamic positioning: DP advisory, FMEA and annual trials, and capability analysis for vessel selection and operational planning.
Marine operations: Tow master duties, rig moves, hook-up and connection campaigns, and subsea installation assurance.
Newbuild and client representation: Owner’s representative in the yard for drilling units and floating production, through follow-up, commissioning and start-up.
Engineering and analysis: Capability comparison, mooring and station-keeping analysis, and the calculation and risk-mitigation methods behind them.
Offshore wind: Marine representation and site management on fixed and floating wind projects, including tow and hook-up.

Master Mariner · Honorary Fellow, IDPOA · Patron, Marine Technology Society

Tom Vebenstad

Partner, Marine Systems, Inspection & Offtake · Oslo

The question is not what a unit is worth today. It is whether it will still be earning in five years.

That is a marine question before it is a financial one.

Tom assesses floating units and offshore vessels for owners, lessors and their lenders: physical condition and remaining capability surveyed on board, set against employment prospects and the current market for the asset. The work supports refinancing, sale and purchase, and lender due diligence. Vardline holds no interest in the transaction being financed.

He also builds the frameworks the work is governed by: governing documentation and management systems for large offshore organisations, vetting and acceptance procedures adopted by major operators, and audit regimes established from scratch. An IMCA accredited DP auditor, he leads Vardline’s audit and systems work.

That judgement rests on twenty years in operations. An experienced Master Mariner, he has held management positions offshore as well as ashore; his specialist ground is the marine, offloading and turret systems on a floating unit. He has prepared and executed turret and STL disconnection, put the systems back in service afterwards, then run maintenance stops and repairs on assets still producing. Done, not reviewed.

Practice areas

Asset advisory: Condition and market assessment of floating units and offshore vessels for refinancing, sale and purchase and lender due diligence.
Assurance systems: Governing documentation, management systems and marine operations manuals, and vetting and acceptance procedures.
Audit and inspection: DP audits against IMCA guidance and class notation, vessel inspection to IMCA eCMID, gap analysis and audit programmes.
Risk and barrier management: HAZID and HAZOP facilitation, risk assessment and mitigation for marine and offtake operations, and the barriers carried through into procedures.
Dynamic positioning: DP FMEA, proving and annual trials, and proving trials for battery and hybrid installations.
Marine and offloading systems: Turret, STL and offloading systems on floating units: disconnection and reconnection, loading system and gangway FMEA, and maintenance stops and repairs on assets in operation.

Master Mariner · IMCA accredited DP auditor · IMCA AVI eCMID inspector

How we deliver

Each engagement is delivered by a team assembled for the scope from marine specialists, engineers and surveyors we have worked with directly, and the assigned team is named to the client before mobilisation.

How we work

Accountable at every level.

A partner on every engagement

The person you agree the scope with is the person who does the work and signs the report.

Teams built for the scope

Clients get the people the scope needs, rather than the people who happen to be available. You will know who is coming before they arrive.

Independent

No equity in yards, contractors or vessel owners. No commissions. We are paid by the client and we answer to the client.

Contact

If you have a unit in build, on tow or about to connect, we would like to hear about it.

A partner will reply, usually within one working day.