Oil firm calls in administrators

Oil platform engineering firm SLP has called in administrators, the company has announced.

The company employs 876 staff across its sites based at Lowestoft in Suffolk, Tyneside, Blackpool and New Malden, Surrey.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said it had made 45 staff redundant in Lowestoft.

A "significant proportion" would be kept on for project with BP due to be completed in spring 2010, PwC said.

Row over project

SLP was put under "significant financial strain" after being embroiled in a customer dispute, which is still unresolved, according to PwC.

The disagreement revolves around work completed on the Al Shaheen field development project in Qatar for shipping and oil giant Maersk.

Maersk alleges that SLP failed to honour its contractual obligations - a claim rejected by SLP.

The continuing row has hit the group financially in terms of legal costs and by dealing a blow to its reputation with customers, according to PwC.

Stephen Oldfield, joint administrator and advisory partner at PwC, said: "We will be discussing the position with the workforce, employee representatives and unions so they are kept abreast of the position as customer discussions unfold in the coming days."

The administrators will look to retain as many existing customers as possible, but they said talks would "not be easy".

They will also look to secure a buyer.