A NORTH-EAST offshore engineering firm has won a multi-million pound North Sea gas contract, which will support 500 jobs.  

OGN Group is taking on about 150 new staff to carry out the work on the 800 tonnes processor at its Hadrian Yard on the banks of the Tyne. 

OGN has not revealed the name of its client although industry insiders believe that ConocoPhillips is acting as operator for the building of the module which will operate in the Alder field, about 100 miles off the coast of Scotland. 

The Wallsend business is understood to have beaten UK-based SembMarine SLP and Global Energy Group, as well as Netherlands-based HSM Offshore to the prestigious deal.

OGN will make and pre-commission the module which incorporates key process equipment including a primary separator, condensate heater, gas cooler, water degasser, hydro-cyclones and condensate recycle pumps, which separate the fluids and gas extracted from below the seabed.

This is the second major deal for a North Sea oil and gas development to be secured by OGN in recent months.

In November last year, it secured a contract with EnQuest to undertake finishing and commissioning works on the EnQuest Producer, a 249m-long floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

David Edwards, chief executive officer at OGN Group, said: “We are exceptionally proud to have been awarded this prestigious contract from such a well-respected, ‘blue chip’ oil & gas operator.  It is a further endorsement of the expertise and experience that the UK oil & gas supply chain can offer the industry."

At the contract signing ceremony Craig Melville, OGN’s chief commercial officer and deputy chief executive, said: "This project demonstrates the continuing role the North East of England has to play in the UK oil & gas industry.

"The region’s expertise in oil and gas is world-renowned and contracts such as this from a major global operator prove that the North- East still has much to offer the sector.”

Michael Fallon, the energy minister, said: "This multi-million pound deal is a fantastic boost for manufacturing on Tyneside. It will create outstanding job opportunities for local people and support national growth. British skills and expertise in the oil and gas industry are second to none and this deal just shows how attractive the UK remains to investors."