AN international engineering firm, which employs hundreds of North-East workers, has secured a £158m contract to provide services in Kuwait.

Amec, whose European headquarters are in Darlington, will work with Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) to provide project engineering and management Services for the Mina Al Ahmadi, Mina Abdullah and Shuaiba oil refineries.

The company employs about 420 workers at its Lingfield Point site, with its engineering division offering technical support to clients across the world.

Its North-East base also manages recruitment for the group's European operations and handles support services.

However, bosses say the five-year Kuwait work hasn't yet involved workers from Darlington.

Alan Armstrong, Amec's Kuwait operations director, said: “I'm delighted that KNPC have again selected Amec to deliver this important work.

“This is a testament to our ability to apply our global design, engineering and project management expertise to deliver complex projects anywhere in the world.

“These refineries and KNPC's local marketing assets are strategically significant in Kuwait's energy security and in providing revenues from their hydrocarbons exports.”