GLOBAL consultancy firm Stapleton International is bidding for work in South-East Asia in a move that could significantly boost turnover, The Northern Echo has learnt.

The Darlington company, which has clinched a growing number of contracts overseas in the past 18 months, said it was in the process of finalising important deals in Vietnam.

Director Jeff Whitfield believes the country offers huge potential, and said operations there could grow to be as big as in Singapore, where Stapleton has an office and is in the process of bidding for oil rig contracts worth more than £2m.

He said: "We expect to grow significantly in South-East Asia and have two people in Vietnam at the moment finalising deals.

"Companies are building oil rigs in Singapore because it is cheap, and they are building them in Korea because it is cheap, but Vietnam is even cheaper, and so we are now bidding for work there, too."

Stapleton, which has its head office in Stanhope Road South, Darlington, provides a full range of commercial, contractual and scheduling services to international contractors and owners in the oil and gas, construction, engineering and energy sectors.

Established more than 30 years ago, it also has offices in London, Singapore and Houston, Texas.

Over the past year, its Houston office has trebled in size to house nine staff, and its Singapore office has risen from six to 22 employees.

In Singapore, Stapleton is working on two oil rig contracts worth about £2m, and is in the process of bidding for two similar, slightly bigger contracts.

Mr Whitfield said: "We expect to find out in September if the bids have been successful. The work would be with American and Dutch oil companies."

Last year, Stapleton secured a multi-million pound deal with GlobalSantaFe, based in Houston, in the US, to provide project services for the building of a drilling rig.

At the time, the company said the deal would help in its bid to more than double turnover in its commercial and project division to about £11m by 2009.

Yesterday, Mr Whitfield said the company was well on the way to hitting that target and would break through the figure if it secured the deals in Vietnam.

Stapleton also provides dispute solutions, litigation and arbitration, seminars and training and operates a small property development company, Stapleton Investments.