HOPES that a £300m oil and gas platform project would be completed in the region were shattered last night – along with the prospect of 1,000 jobs – after a rescue bid was rejected.

The decision was branded a “body blow” to the North-East and a devastating set-back to the UK’s offshore industry.

Jon Dale, director of the North-East consortium that had been bidding to complete the contract, said the decision was incomprehensible.

Among the many critics of the decision were Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who had backed the scheme, and instructed aides to give it every practical assistance.

Last night, he said he was very disappointed.

Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo, Mr Dale criticised SeaDragon – the company behind the rig construction project – for giving the work to a rival bid from Singapore.

He also criticised the Government for failing to step in when Lloyds TSB pulled the plug on financing that would have allowed the work to be carried out in the North-East.

The bank’s decision prompted SeaDragon to tear up the original contract and look abroad for a yard capable of completing the project.

In an attempt to keep the contract, Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge and McNulty Offshore, from South Shields, South Tyneside, formed a consortium – Tyne Tees Rigs – and tendered for the work.

But last night, Cayman Islands- based SeaDragon said it had rejected the British bid in favour of moving the project to a foreign yard it claimed had more experience.

The announcement came only days after The Northern Echo revealed how SeaDragon’s boss sent an email, urging his board to reject the British bid, to the director of the UK consortium by mistake.

The embarrassing gaffe forced SeaDragon’s executive chairman, John Darlington, to offer a public apology.

He promised the British bid would be given full consideration.

But less than a week later the company confirmed widespread speculation that it was in advanced talks about moving the project to a shipyard in Jurong, Singapore.

Mr Dale said he believed Tyne Tees Rigs was at a disadvantage from the outset.

“We are bitterly disappointed that we didn’t get a fair crack of the whip as we were never given the same information as that provided to the Singapore yards,” he said.

“We had to use our experience and industry knowledge to compete with Singapore with what, at times, felt like having one hand tied behind our back.

“We are massively frustrated and feel that SeaDragon didn’t give us a real opportunity to show what the North- East can deliver.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said that due to state and legal rules, the Government could not be directly involved in a company’s commercial decisions.

Tyne Tees Rigs worked tirelessly to put its bid together in a matter of days to save the project – already a quarter completed at the Haverton Hill shipyard, in Billingham, Teesside – when Lloyds TSB pulled the financing.

The £300m project would have created at least 1,000 jobs, 200 of which had already been filled. Last month, however, Cleveland Bridge was forced to lay off 140 workers after a wind-down procedure began at Haverton Hill.

Regional MPs Alan Milburn and Nick Brown, Minister for the North-East, also threw their weight behind the lastminute bid.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband backed the project, and Darlington MP Mr Milburn met SeaDragon officials to put the case personally.

But SeaDragon quashed hopes of a reprieve by saying it wanted to base the project in a yard which has “a recent, successful track record of building semi-submersible rigs of this complexity, under the supervision of an industryexperienced project manager”.

“On this basis, the board concluded that the Tyne Tees Rigs proposal could not be taken forward.”

It said both tenders had been given equal attention, but concluded the North-East was no longer a viable option.

Across the region, there was widespread dismay.

Ian Williams, director of business and industry at regional development agency One North East, said: “It is very disappointing that the work is not coming to the North-East, as it would have created a significant amount of jobs and contributed to the regional economy.”

Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, said “Everyone must know that a serious rescue package was put together with support from regional MPs, trade unions and led by Cleveland Bridge and McNulty.”

■ In another sign of the deepening recession, Nissan said yesterday it was ordering a wage freeze for workers at its Sunderland car plant. The company said it was responding to the unprecedented collapse in car sales worldwide.