A MARINE engineering firm is continuing to win new work and diversify services to suppress any impact of the sunken oil price.

Subsea Innovation Limited, in Darlington, is overseeing a number of significant projects, tendering for further contracts, and increasing maintenance to strengthen its industry position.

The firm, which specialises in launch and recovery systems (LARS) to deploy underwater remotely operated vehicles, told The Northern Echo the workload will help lift turnover to about £11m.

Martin Moon, managing director, said the projects, which include designing a system to help lay concrete mattresses for pipeline protection, and clamps and connectors for the Middle-East, were offsetting any struggles from the oil and gas sector.

He also revealed it has firmed up a partnership with Denmark-based winch maker NTD Offshore to increase its provision across complete systems, which include winches and its own LARS frames, and has refurbished a LARS, which it made in 1999, for an offshore contractor.

Mr Moon said the latter will prove beneficial going forward.

He said: “We are tendering for quite a bit of work and continuing to grow in the marketplace.

“We have seen this before with the oil and gas sector where it takes a dip, but, if anything, this has taken the overheating out of the industry.

“What it means is we are not getting the volume of new assets being built, with companies looking more towards refurbishments of equipment for the next 18 months or so.

“We have started doing bits and pieces on that and are looking at our A-frames and those of others too.”

He also said the industry was readying itself for an upturn in the offshore trenching market, which provides services to lay power cabling, from next year onwards.

He added: “People are starting to prepare for that rise, and the oil price is slowly climbing again.

“The world still needs oil and gas and it still needs energy.”

Last year, the company, which employs 50 workers, officially moved into a new 40,000sq ft plant, in Darlington’s Faverdale area, after it was opened by the Duke of Gloucester.

Built by Darlington-based J and RM Richardson, and designed by Darlington’s Architects Design Group, the site is close to Subsea Innovation’s former base, and Mr Moon said it is allowing the firm to carry out larger projects.

He added: “The job for the mattresses is something we would not have been able to do in the old place, and we would have struggled to handle the clamps and connectors too.

“We may even have had to use somewhere else, which wouldn’t have been anywhere near as efficient as having it on the doorstep.”