A STEEL operator has secured a “multi-million pound” order it says will provide a North-East mill with work for nearly a year.

Liberty will supply large diameter steel pipe for Statoil’s Snorre oil and gas field, off the coast of Norway.

The contract, which amounts to more than 13,000 tonnes of production, will be overseen by Liberty’s Hartlepool-based 84-inch mill.

It comes just weeks after Liberty’s UK steel division chief executive Jon Bolton told The Northern Echo that the business’ North-East operation, known for processing offshore energy sector steel, was close to confirming new deals.

Bosses say the Norwegian order, obtained through contractor Subsea 7, is the first in an expected series of new orders for the 140-worker site, revealing the pipe will be the largest diameter ever produced at the mill. It is expected to be installed in the North Sea across 2019 and 2020.

They added new orders are also expected soon for the company’s sister 42-inch Hartlepool mill.

Liberty bought the mills from Tata Steel last year in a reshuffle of the latter’s operations that saw its Long Products division re-launch as British Steel after a £1 sale to investor Greybull Capital.

Under the terms of its Hartlepool sell-off, Tata retained a 20-inch mill, since it is linked to the company’s strip products business that is centred on steelmaking in Port Talbot, Wales.