Insolvency experts have warned of the widening impact of the enduring oil and gas downturn on the region.

It comes as another offshore services firm stopped trading, with the loss of six jobs, becoming the latest in a string of restaurant, hotels and support businesses to feel the ripple effect of 'lower for longer' energy prices.

The latest casualty was Norwich-based professional kitchen installer Catershop, which has gone into liquidation due to a 'terminal' decline in business.

The Bowthorpe-based company, which installed kitchens on oil and gas platforms, ceased trading two weeks ago with liabilities of £190,000 - including £70,000 owed to workers.

And insolvency practitioners have reported scores of personal service companies – responsible for contract workers – have closed over the last 18 months.

Chris Williams, of Norwich-based McTear, Williams and Wood, said Catershop had closed due to a terminal decline in work, and that he was talking to other firms in the sector.

'It is a consequence of the oil and gas downturn,' he said. 'It has been a company that has done well in the past, but they just have no more orders.'

JCA Testing, JL & A Services and Northlandic UK Ltd, all based in Great Yarmouth, have also been forced to close due to lack of work.

Jamie Playford, of Norwich-based Leading UK, said: 'Most of the workers have been given a month's notice and that's it. They go from earning £150,000 to £200,000 and get used to a certain style of living. When it dries up overnight it comes as a bit of a shock to them.'

It follows a fall in the oil price from its $110 peak in 2014 to below $30 a barrel earlier this year. The current price is about $47 (£35), although global oil cartel Opec said demand for crude from Europe was likely to slow after the Brexit vote.

Gas has followed a similar decline, with prices currently at 35p per therm. Firms typically need 50p per therm to break even.

East of England Energy Group chief executive Simon Gray said the knock-on effect was being felt in the region's coastal towns.

'Speak to any of the hotels in Great Yarmouth and they will say they have all been impacted, down to cafes and restaurants,' he said.

But, he added, unlike Aberdeen, the renewables sector in the East had offered some hope – though he acknowledged it was still 'pretty tough out there'.

'The expression is lower for longer. There is no investment going into exploration at all at the moment,' said Mr Gray.

For accountancy firms whose clients include offshore workers, the liquidations mean a fall in business.

Lowestoft-based AP Bemment & Co said the number of personal service firms on its books had fallen by 20% to about 120.

Partner David Goldsmith said: 'More and more of our clients are travelling abroad to places such as Azerbaijan to seek out work.'

How is your business responding to the downturn? Email sabah.meddings@archant.co.uk