SUBSEA design business Ennsub has plans to hire up to 20 people after picking up a multi-million pound contract to make systems for ROVOP.

Westhill based Ennsub will spend around six months designing and manufacturing two remotely operated vehicle launch and recovery systems.

Those will be installed on the Ceona vessel, which is being commissioned by oil and gas construction firm Ceona, in the third quarter of this year ahead of its launch in 2015.

The new staff will effectively double Ennsub's workforce over the next year.

ROVOP, also based in Westhill, recently won a five-year agreement with Ceona to provide remotely operated vehicles to its new fleet of deepwater pipelaying and construction vessels.

Scott Macknocher, managing director of Ennsub, said the company was delighted to have secured the work.

He said: "Our focus since the inception of Ennsub has been to develop industry-leading equipment and products which reflect the criticality of reliable subsea operations and we believe that this award recognises this ambition."