FIVE former Enron directors have established px limited, a company based in Stockton, which will operate and manage the £100m Teesside Gas Processing Plant and the nearby £800m Teesside Power Station in the UK.

The launch of px keeps the operation of the plants, as well as the energy trading and business support functions, as one entity, and secures the jobs of more than 200 people.

The management team is Tim Underdown, chief executive officer; Martin Green, chief operating officer; Peter Hutchinson, chief financial officer; Ian Clifford, site operations director and Steve Roy, human resources director.

After months of talks with administrators PriceWaterhouseCooper and the owners of the assets, including Teesside Power Limited and Northern Gas Processing Limited, px has secured contracts to operate and manage the sites until at least 2008.

That will involve processing gas from the North Sea to provide up to ten per cent of the UK's supply, as well as fuelling via pipelines under the River Tees, the power plant, which is capable of generating about four per cent of electricity consumed in England and Wales.

The team feared the worst when the US energy producer and trader collapsed amid debt and controversy last year. Although the Teesside business was a robust venture, it was seriously threatened through its association with Enron.

But as the administrators sought to salvage something from the collapse, operations such as those on Teesside became recognised as businesses with potential and as a source of cash for the administrators.

Mr Underdown said: "It makes sense for the whole operation to continue as one and we have an unrivalled team already in place to achieve this."

Mr Green said: "Teesside is the world's biggest privately- owned combined cycle gas turbine power station and we have built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in this business.

"We will be offering that expertise as troubleshooters and to operate and manage other plants in the UK and abroad. We are already discussing more than half a dozen projects.

If we are successful, that will create more jobs - primarily in Tees Valley."