STATS Group, the pipeline engineering specialist, has invested $2 million (£1.3m) in Houston to expand its services in the US and South American oil and gas sectors.

Aberdeenshire-based STATS, which designs, manufactures and installs hi-tech pipeline isolation and intervention tools, has opened a 25,000 sq ft office and workshop facility in Brittmoore. It expects to add to its US headcount over the next year.

Stephen Rawlinson, STATS' former general manager for Canada who has been promoted to vice president for the Americas, said: "We recently won contracts worth more than $15 million to provide intervention (hot tapping) and isolation services to one of North America's largest energy infrastructure companies and we believe we can replicate that success in the US.

"To be able to make the best out of emerging opportunities we need local facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and feet on the ground. This investment in Houston will provide us with a framework to get in to the tendering rounds, quickly start mobilisation when projects are confirmed and build on our track record of successful project execution in North America."