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Rescue package for offshore industry

A rescue package to help the North East’s offshore industry has been welcomed in the region.

MPs finalising the terms of a deal amid warnings that more than half the businesses in the sector will fail this year, putting tens of thousands of people out of work.

The plan is thought to include several unprecedented measures, including immediate release of several hundred million pounds held by the Treasury in accumulated tax credits.

In the North East, the oil and gas industry remained relatively unscathed by the global slowdown last year but this year it has begun to show signs that it is suffering.

Last month one of the region’s biggest firms in the sector - pipeline supplier Wellstream - announced plans axe up to 90 jobs at its Newcastle manufacturing base because of the difficult trading environment.

Guy Adams, of oil industry publication Oilinfo, which recently established a base in Newcastle, said: “There are a few companies in the North East that are struggling and you seem to hear about it on a daily basis. The rescue package has come too late but it’s better late than never. It was the Government that got us into this mess so they should get us out of it.

“The big oil companies will always be fine, but it’s the small and medium firms that have been most affected and we have a fair amount of those in the North East.”

David Eason, of the Tees Alliance Group, said: “It will absolutely be welcomed by the companies on Teesside. Heavy industry is what we do on Teesside - we don’t want to work in call centres.

“The financial crash has delayed a lot of projects and people are concerned about whether the money is going to be there to develop these sites.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .