NORTH-East jobs are at risk because Chancellor George Osborne made an "ill informed" decision to introduce a £2bn tax on oil companies without consultation, it was claimed last night.

George Rafferty, chief executive of Durham City-based NOF Energy, said Mr Osborne's announcement in last weeks Budget, which has already seen several North Sea projects halted or under review, could severely hit the North-East, a major supplier of services and products to the industry.

The Chancellor has pledged to meet oil industry executives, who this week expressed anger over the tax during talks with Energy Secretary Chris Huhne claiming it could cost tens of thousands of jobs.

Mr Rafferty, whose organisation represents firms working in the supply chain for the oil, gas, nuclear and offshore renewables sectors, added that the oil industry might no longer trust what the Government told it after going back on assurances given last year.

He said: "For the last six to nine months we have been talking about a renaissance in oil and gas especially from the North Sea and the benefit to our members in the North-East as a result of investment being put in.

"With this announcement by the Government, which was made without consultation with the industry, there is a serious risk those investment decisions will be reversed."

Mr Rafferty said the Government had gone back on promises made last year that there would be no sudden changes in taxes for the oil and gas industry, which led to some firms deciding to invest in projects.

He said: "This announcement was made in the Budget with no consultation or discussion with the industry and when that sort of thing happens it puts a question mark over trust in the British Government.

"These are international companies that can take their business anywhere and they might be looking at the British Government and saying 'how can we trust what it is telling us.'

"There are other areas that are not as expensive as the North Sea to extract oil from and this will make the North Sea less competitive."

The tax was introduced to fund a 1p reduction in fuel duty for hard pressed motorists, but Mr Rafferty believed that if the Government had consulted with the industry they could have possibly been given alternatives to achieve their objectives.

This week Mr Osborne told the Commons Treasury committee that he did not expect the tax to damage investment but Norwegian company Statoil has already halted work on a North Sea development as a direct result of the tax, with Valiant Petroleum and British Gas owner Centrica also reassessing projects.