OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2012. GE’s Oil & Gas Subsea Systems business (NYSE: GE), headquartered in Aberdeen, plans to build on its presence in the U.K. through the creation of a new subsea centre in Bristol at the city’s Aztec West Business Park.

By establishing this facility, GE Oil & Gas will create 200 new jobs in 2013. The expansion is a direct response to the growth being experienced by the organization’s subsea business, a trend that it expects to continue in future years. Opportunities are available for a range of engineering, project management and commercial professionals.

GE Oil & Gas has been expanding its existing facilities in the U.K. More than Ј620,000 (USD 1 million) has been spent on modernizing the Master Control Station (MCS) workshop and Subsea Electronics Module (SEM) at its Nailsea facility. Also, earlier this year, GE announced a Ј9million (USD 15 million) investment in its manufacturing plant in Montrose with the creation of 40 new jobs.

Rod Christie, vice president for Subsea Systems at GE Oil & Gas, said: “In order to respond to increasing demand for our products and services, we are creating a second subsea hub in Bristol. The area has a strong pool of high integrity industries, such as aerospace, defense, nuclear and automotive that we can tap into, allowing us to realize our growth goals more readily. Establishing a stronger presence in Bristol will enable us to bring new and much needed skilled staff into our global organization supporting the capabilities of our existing subsea hub in Aberdeen.”

Jack Lopresti, Member of Parliament for Filton and Bradley Stoke, added: “I am delighted that GE has chosen to create a subsea engineering hub at the Aztec West Business Park. This will expand GE’s oil and gas presence in the U.K. and support the provision of high-tech equipment and services to the global oil and gas sector. I am also pleased that GE has decided to locate this hub in my constituency, which is good news for the area and for U.K. manufacturing at a challenging time for the economy.”

GE Oil & Gas currently employs 550 people in Bristol, where it has operated since 1980. The company’s Subsea Systems headquarters in Aberdeen employs more than 800 people. GE’s subsea production equipment has reliably served the market for over 50 years and is at the forefront of subsea field development, with advanced system integration capabilities and more than 1,000 systems installed worldwide.