Lowestoft-based AKD — the oil and gas services provider that is part of the Camellia group — is due to close at the end of June.

The 113-strong workforce at the Horn Hill site were informed of the decision at a meeting last week. Managing director Andrew Quayle said: “Despite a restructuring programme last year to keep the business going, market conditions mean that this is no longer realistic.”

Miles Hubbard, regional officer for the Unite union, said: “This is a massive body blow to the workforce and their families, and for the local economy on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. We will be seeking an urgent meeting with senior management to see what options may be available to save or relocate these jobs.

“This closure is an indication that nationally economic recovery is still very much centred on London and parts of the South East. We can ill afford to lose such skilled engineering jobs in this predominately rural area.”

AKD, which has been in operation for 60 years, originally manufactured diesel engines for the local ship-building industry before specialising in engineering services for the oil and gas sector, which has been badly hit in recent months by a fall in global crude-oil prices.

Last November, a spokesman for AKD told an energy industry conference in Norwich that the company had been “focusing very heavily” on the opportunity represented by the decommissioning of oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.