A SUBSEA company has secured a deal to support a Middle East energy project.

DeepOcean will carry out trenching and backfilling work on 56km of offshore power cabling in the United Arab Emirates.

Bosses say the work follows two projects in the region, with the latest agreement expected to start later this year.

The company, which is based in Darlington, says it will use its T1 trencher to cut subsea channels.

Officials told The Northern Echo initial engineering and preparation work will be delivered from the company’s County Durham office, with the project then overseen by a team in the United Arab Emirates.

Tony Stokes, the firm’s managing director for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, said: “This award is testament to the confidence our clients have in our ability to provide burial solutions in the most difficult soil conditions.”

Earlier this year, the Echo revealed DeepOcean had “irons in the fire” to expand globally, with officials eyeing contracts in Europe and China to build on a growing order book and fresh shareholder backing.

The company will support ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia One offshore wind farm, has a separate deal to install nearly 100 cables on Dong Energy’s Hornsea Project One wind farm and has seen investor Triton become its largest shareholder.

Speaking at the time, Pierre Boyde, commercial director, said the company also sees great potential in European interconnector cabling and Chinese work.

The business is already supporting the Nemo Link interconnector, which will deliver electricity between the UK and Belgium.

Mr Boyde said: “There is definitely a lot of positive stuff going on; we’ve got a pipeline that stretches into 2021 and 2022.

“We’ve always got a number of irons in the fire.”

DeepOcean employs in excess of 100 people and complements its Darlington office with a marine site in South Bank, near Middlesbrough.