A specialist subsea firm expects to make 45 staff redundant as it fights the impact of falling oil prices and the Government's failure to stop UK offshore work going to foreign rivals.

DeepOcean UK is known for its specialist trench digging and underwater cable laying for the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors.

It employs a total of 136 people at its offices in Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, where engineering, design and geo-technical investigation work is carried out, and at its marine site in South Bank, Middlesbrough, where equipment is prepared for use.

Tony Inglis, DeepOcean UK’s managing director, said consultations with staff were being held, and it was a "miserable time."

"But we are bidding on many large contracts and will continue to operate with enough staff to carry out existing projects," he said, "We are very good at what we do and next year we’ll launch one of the largest specialist vessels in the world, the Maersk Connector, to take on more work.”

The Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) previously released a report outlining a vision for wind farm developers to ensure at least 50 per cent of all UK work goes to British companies.

But Mr Inglis said this was not happening and companies in Belgium and the Netherlands were benefitting instead.

“That’s why we have started a campaign to encourage the Government to make developers aware of the need to raise the UK content to a sufficient level and see what can be done," he said.

"We have years of expertise in the sector and we don’t need to build a factory, we already have a very high level of capability."

Bart Heijermans, the group’s chief executive, recently announced the company was splitting into two main operations – one focused on a Greater North Sea region (GNS) and another looking at international work.

GNS would merge work across the UK, Norway and the Netherlands and include roles such as IT, ship management and engineering. The international division would focus on expansion in Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East.