US advisory boutique Moelis & Co will in the spring open an office in Houston to launch coverage of the oil and gas sector, where mergers and acquisitions activity in 2011 is already close to 50% up on a year ago.

Moelis said in a statement this week that it has hired Brady Parish as a managing director to lead the oil and gas effort when the Houston office opens in April. The Houston team is likely to grow to between five to 10 bankers in the near term.