The parent company of Darlington’s Modus Seabed Intervention is part of a duo launching a new subsea venture on Teesside.
Tompkins UK, the parent of subsea specialist Modus, is partnering with Dutch firm Royal IHC to invest €17m in a new company, TI Geosciences - based in Darlington.
The newly created firm will deliver services in the deep and ultra-deep water, oil and gas geotechnical survey and site investigation markets.
TI Geosciences will initially provide cone penetration test (CPT) and gravity coring services, which are used to determine the geotechnical engineering properties of soils.
The services will use Tompkins’ technology, deployed from a platform supply vessel.
Remote seabed drilling services are also expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2015, with the first in a range of IHC’s sonic wireline-operated remote drill systems (SWORD).
The SWORD systems will remain within IHC’s research and development programme.
TI Geosciences will also have bases in Singapore and Saldahna Bay in South Africa.
The two firms said the new venture will be supported by IHC’s international network of office production and engineering facilities.
Modus, which was established in 2008 by Jake Tompkins, provides services for offshore industries, including the engineering and management of equipment to sectors including renewable energy, oil and gas and defence.
Last year it co-founded the Centre for Subsea Technology Awareness, Training and Education or - C-STATE.
The centre has gone from strength to strength, attracting trainees from across the region to its Darlington College base and also proving popular with companies forced out of Aberdeen by sky-high accommodation costs.
The facility is a partnership Cumbria-based Maritime Training and Competence Solutions Ltd (MTCS), Darlington College, Teesside University, Tees Valley Unlimited, Darlington Borough Council and Modus.
The purpose-built facility, which includes a 200hp hydraulic remotely operated vehicle (ROV), offers a range of subsea courses from apprenticeships to further and higher education, and industry recognised and accredited training.
Last June, Modus - which employs around 50 people - announced it was aiming for international growth after securing a £2.45m finance package from HSBC.
Accounts filed at Companies House in January show Modus Seabed Intervention suffered a £1.5m operating loss in its last financial year due to a curtailed contract and delays in a key build project.
Modus, which supplies predominantly to the North Sea offshore industries, reported a slide from operating profit of £1.2m to a loss of £1.53m, in the year to the end of March 2014.
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