NORTH-EAST companies should work with Norwegian firms on North Sea decommisioning projects, an industry leader said yesterday.

Brian Nixon, chief executive of Decom North Sea, was speaking at the Offshore North Sea oil and gas industry exhibition, in Stavanger, Norway.

Decom North Sea, which was established last year and now has more than 70 member organisations, is preparing to launch a mapping exercise, showcasing the expertise and experience of companies in the North-East, Scotland and the South-East, where most of the potential supply chain for the decommissioning market is based.

There is an estimated £30bn of North Sea decommissioning work forecast for the next few decades with work expected to increase within the next year or two.

Mr Nixon said: “It is vitally important that the industry and supply chain is prepared to secure maximum benefit from the wider North Sea programmes and, by doing so, becomes recognised globally as a source of decommissioning expertise, in the same way as it is recognised for its strengths with new developments, production optimisation, subsea technologies, asset integrity and similar.”