AN industry supporting thousands of North-East jobs is trapped in a perfect storm that could last more than a year, an industry boss has claimed.

Scott Macknocher, managing director of expanding subsea engineering firm Ennsub, warned deflated oil prices have left the offshore energy sector stymied, as companies slash jobs and scale back developments.

Earlier this week, The Northern Echo exclusively revealed 45 workers face redundancy at DeepOcean UK, which has bases in Darlington and Teesside, with bosses blaming the move on oil prices and Government contract snubs.

North Sea operators BP and Talisman-Sinopec are also axing hundreds of posts, with Robin Allan, director of Premier Oil and chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex, saying the industry faces collapse after oil plummeted to less than $50 a barrel.

Mr Macknocher was speaking after Ennsub, which has a site at Wynyard Business Park, near Stockton, and designs and makes systems to deploy underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs), enhanced its global reputation with work on an Australian energy project.

The firm, which last year revealed aims to double in size, supplied sealing for the Wheatstone Liquefied Natural Gas platform (LNG), which is expected to have an annual gas capacity of about 15 million tonnes.

Mr Macknocher said the company, along with many others, had felt the impact of the oil price crisis.

He told The Northern Echo: “This is a pretty significant situation and it could be 18 months before it starts to pick up again; it’s all about supply and demand.

“Who knows how long it could last with the global economy?

“But, in a way, it isn’t such a surprise because of the cyclical nature of the industry.

“There is a perfect storm going on; you have the price, the fact oil is running out, the US shale gas revolution and the global economy.

“It has had an impact on business and capital expenditure, which has filtered down the supply chain.

“We saw a slow down coming and the operators were scaling back because they spent so much money in new developments.

“But what people did not see was the fall in oil price and the impact of that.”

Mr Macknocher, who oversees more than ten workers at Ennsub’s North-East base, said the firm would cope with industry setbacks, but warned the offshore environment would remain stunted for a time as projects are restarted.

He added: “As a company, we are still relatively embryonic and are nimble and flexible enough to come out of this stronger and in a better position than some businesses that have larger overheads.

“For the industry, the effects will not be too long, but there will be a lag in work as spending stops and starts again.”

Speaking about future work, Mr Macknocher said it had received a number of enquiries.

He highlighted the Australian scheme, which saw Ennsub design two systems to provide an external and internal support for ballasting pipes on the Wheatstone platform corners.

Mr Macknocher added: “Wheatstone was a great opportunity to demonstrate our design, innovation and supply capabilities, and our design team gained a real understanding of the industry and the project.

“It was an excellent example of our ability to deliver unique solutions to similar projects.”

Last year, Ennsub revealed a £2m agreement to make launch and recovery systems for surveying company Benthic to carry out investigations in depths of 3,000 metres.

It also worked with independent provider Rovop to send two ultra-deepwater ROV launch and recovery systems to the Ceona Amazon pipe laying vessel, which is capable of installing rigid and flexible pipelines and large subsea structures.

DeepOcean UK’s jobs announcement came after its Dutch bosses revealed they were reorganising its international divisions, which include sites in the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Brazil and Mexico, to stay competitive.

The firm is known for specialist trench digging and underwater power cable laying for oil, gas and renewable energy projects and employs 136 staff in the North-East.

However, managing director Tony Inglis said its position had been damaged by a Government failure to implement a fair market place for UK firms on UK developments, with work going to companies in Belgium and the Netherlands.

DeepOcean UK’s offices in Darlington’s Coniscliffe Road provide engineering, design and geo-technical investigation work, with its marine site in South Bank, near Middlesbrough, used to prepare equipment for use.