Russian Wadan owner sees hope for insolvent shipyard

HANOVER, Germany, Jul 15 (Reuters) - The owner of Germany's fifth-biggest shipbuilder Wadan sees big orders coming for the insolvent company that may help stave off its collapse.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would announce orders worth billions of euros during his visit to Germany on Thursday, a spokesman of Andrey Burlakov, the Russian investor who controls Wadan, said on Wednesday.

Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) was likely to order ten ships and marine oil and gas platforms, Burlakov's spokesman said.

A Norilsk spokesman, however, said: "As of today, we have no such plans."

"Burlakov also anticipates that Gazprom (GAZP.MM) subsidiary Gazflot will order several ships for transporting liquefied natural gas", Burlakov's spokesman said.

The Russian investor, who is Chairman of Wadan, was also in negotiations with U.S. based Global Water Solutions about supplying ships specialised in the desalination of sea water.

"There are discussions about creating a German-Russian shipbuilding group to put up something against the dominance of Korean and Japanese companies," he added.

Gazflot and Global Water Solutions were not immediately reachable for comment.

Despite the possibility of new orders, the shipyard's future hinges on a mooted insolvency loan from the government worth 190 million euros.