THE parent company of a subsea engineering firm has launched a new offshore venture in a £12.5m agreement.

Tompkins UK, which is linked to Modus Seabed Intervention, is partnering Royal IHC to create TI Geosciences.

The organisation will be based in Darlington, and will use an operating base in Teesside to focus on deep water geotechnical surveys and site investigations.

They added work will include remote seabed drilling later this year.

Tompkins already has extensive experience across offshore, subsea and geotechnical fields, with Royal IHC, which runs IHC Engineering Business, in Stocksfield, Northumberland, known for dredging and mining equipment.

In a statement, bosses said: “Tompkins’ track record and IHC’s engineering and advanced capabilities will deliver world-class services to the oil and gas industry in this challenging sector.

“Our advanced technology will enable the company to simplify processes and enhance quality, gaining and sustaining a market-leading position.

They added TI Geosciences will also have bases in Singapore and South Africa’s Saldahna Bay.

The agreement is a boost to both Tompkins UK and Royal IHC, which have both helped bring work to the region.

Tompkins’ Modus Seabed Intervention, also based in Darlington, last year invested in a 150hp remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to carry out inspection, repair and maintenance work, including a project on a cable laying vessel in Spain for a Dutch contractor.

It is now targeting more work in ultra-deep 3,000-metre environments and pushing on with plans to break into Kuala Lumpur and the Asia Pacific market.

In 2013, IHC Engineering Business appointed two North-East fabrication specialists to develop a wind cable laying vehicle.

Dyer Engineering, in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, County Durham, and PJ Engineering Products, in South Shields, South Tyneside, were brought in to support IHC’s work on a craft capable of laying cables on offshore wind farms.