ENGINEERS on Teesside have won a £30m contract to service a gas terminal.

AK Engineering Services, in Stockton, will carry out maintenance and modifications to BP's Central Area Transmission System (Cats) terminal at nearby Seal Sands.

The company, a subsidiary of the Aker Kvaerner group, will also service BP's Wytch Farm production and transport facility in Dorset as part of the deal.

About 150 workers will run the operation, from Teesside and AK's sister facilities in Aberdeen and Solent.

The Cats terminal, which opened in 1993, receives and processes natural gas from the North Sea via a 400km pipeline. In 2002, it transported 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas a day to Teesside.

Aker Kvaerner employs 700 people in Stockton.

The three-year contract, which includes an option for a two-year extension, follows another BP deal for Aker Kvaerner to work on several sites in Germany.

Jarle Tautra, AK executive vice-president, said: "We are delighted to be working with BP in the UK, which will enable us to consolidate the relationship we are building with BP in Germany.

"This project represents a major opportunity for the teams at our various locations to create a flagship contract that will deliver total life-cycle engineering services to both the Cats and Wytch Farm facilities."