A COMPANY behind offshore protection systems has supported work on a £1.5bn energy development.

Mech-Tool Engineering says it has delivered a contract to help Statoil’s Dudgeon wind farm come to fruition.

Bosses added the deal has seen the Darlington-based company design, make and supply fire and blast walls for the Norfolk coast development, which Statoil claims will power more than 400,000 homes.

The contract comes just weeks after Mech-Tool revealed it will work alongside Statoil on a five-year framework agreement to support the Johan Sverdrup oil project, based in the Norwegian continental shelf.

Hailing its work on Dudgeon, which is anticipated to become operational later this year, a Mech-Tool spokesman said the deal was further proof of the business’ enduring repute in the offshore energy sector, adding it will help keep the company on its global growth path.

He said: “The project has been recognised throughout the industry for its safety and quality performance, which is why we are very pleased to have been part of it.

“The contract win adds to our already extensive portfolio in supplying world-class fire and blast solutions to major renewable projects across the globe.”

The deal represents another step forward for Mech-Tool, which is also known as MTE and has complemented order book successes with divisional and geographical expansion in recent years.

According to officials, its work on Johan Sverdup, which its operator says has the potential to yield up to 650,000 barrels per day during peak operations, will see Mech-Tool help to supply fire and blast walls, louvres and windows, and wind walls and heatshields for platforms to protect workers.

The business also last year secured the most valuable deal in its history - a £37m contract to design and make units for a Kazakhstan oil field development.

That deal includes scope to design, engineer, make and fit out a field operation office module and 20 enclosures for instruments on the Tengiz oil field, with officials saying the agreement has created a number of jobs.

The Echo previously reported how Mech-Tool, which supports its Darlington head office and a manufacturing base in the town with a site in Middlesbrough, had launched HVAC Solutions, a new division focused on heating, ventilation and air conditioning, which officials said will create a handful of jobs.

It also opened a base in South Korea to attract new work from Asian shipyards, and helped Hartlepool-based Heerema Fabrication Group build a substation platform for the Galloper Wind Farm, off the Suffolk coast.