Isleburn hires 250 on £4.5m contracts

A HIGHLAND engineering company has taken on a further 250 staff after winning £4.5 million-worth of contracts from clients in the energy industry.

Isleburn, part of Inverness-based Global Energy Group, has hired 50 workers for the firm's fabrication division on the Cromarty Firth, in Ross-shire, taking its headcount in the area to about 500.

An additional 200 jobs have been created at the group's inspection, maintenance and repair (IRM) unit in Hartlepool.

The IRM division is working on three Ensco "jack-up rigs" in Hartlepool, while the unit's staff in the Highlands have recently released the Borgsten Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig after 45 days of work. Work is now under way on Transocean's GSF Galaxy II jack-up rig.

Isleburn, which has bases in Aberdeen and Dunfermline, employs about 1,000 staff in the UK and turns over some 70m a year.

Neil MacArthur, Isleburn's chief operating officer, said: "This new work, in addition to our existing healthy order book, means all our sites continue to be very busy. We are also continuing to actively tender for further work in the subsea, topside, renewables, utilities and nuclear markets in which we operate."

Privately-owned Global Energy Group expects its turnover to hit 230m this year, up from 129m in 2009-10. The firm employs about 3,500 staff globally.

With operations in the US, Norway, Dubai, Trinidad, Ghana, Egypt and Abu Dhabi, one-quarter of the group's turnover comes from international sales.

Last year, Global Energy Group bought six of the subsidiaries of former London-listed Sovereign Oilfield Group, with Forfab and Oil Engineering being rolled into the Isleburn brand.