Hundreds of jobs will be created in Aberdeen by a multi-national oil and gas company.

Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil expects 200 people will work out of its North Sea head office on the edge of the city, with 500 offshore jobs linked to production from the Mariner field.

Statoil expects to start production from Mariner in 2017 and will be investing more than 7 billion US dollars (£4.2 billion) in the project over the 30-year life of the field.

Gunnar Breivik, head of Statoil's Aberdeen office, said: "We are in the middle of a significant recruitment effort for our Aberdeen operations centre as well as for offshore positions on the Mariner field."

The firm is moving to a new business park, Prime Four, which will be base to more than 2,000 people across different companies.

Graeme Bone, managing director of park developers Drum, said: "With the mix of tenants we now have it is no exaggeration to say that Prime Four is rapidly becoming one of the world's major energy hubs."

Alistair Carmichael, the Scottish Secretary in the UK Government, said the jobs are excellent news.

"It reflects the city's status as a global oil and gas hub and shows that for multinational companies like Statoil the expertise and skills available in the north-east are an invaluable resource in themselves," he said.