WITH a fair wind Rosyth Dockyard could win a major new shipbuilding contract from BP.

Investment from the oil giants would provide a big boost to the industry and senior executives from the company met Babcock bosses in West Fife recently.

BP are looking for a firm to build four windfarm support vessels, which they reckon could support hundreds of jobs, for a huge windfarm they hope to build off the east coast of Scotland with German energy group EnBW.

It's still early days – both firms need a licence for the offshore windfarm and put an application into the ScotWind auction in the summer – and other yards will be in the running for the work, BP bosses also visited sites in Port Glasgow, if they decide to go ahead with plans to build the vessels in Scotland.

The oil company has already been awarded windfarm acreage in the Irish Sea with EnBW, in the UK licensing round in February, and said that vessels built here could also support Irish Sea operations.

The director of BP’s Irish Sea project, Richard Haydock, visited Rosyth Dockyard last week and said: “If we can do something that benefits the yards in Scotland I think that would be a great outcome for all concerned.”

The immediate future for the West Fife yard looks bright with Babcock launching a recruitment drive earlier this month for 500 workers to help on the £1.25 billion Type 31 frigates contract.

Five new ships are being built for the Royal Navy and the search for new workers coincided with the opening of their new £31.5m shipbuilding assembly hall, the Venturer Building.

However, Babcock will be looking to bring in more contracts and BP's senior vice-president zero carbon energy, Felipe Arbelaez, outlined the scale of the projects they are considering.

“You’re looking at activity that will probably bring in the vicinity of 500 jobs for a number of years,” he said.

“We think it would be a very material opportunity for any of the shipyards in Scotland.”

Mr Arbelaez said he was confident Scottish yards could compete against operations in countries that are seen as being lower-cost players, such as Poland.

He added: “With some of the investment and government support and capability that’s been built we would expect the shipyards here to be competitive.”

On the support vessels, Mr Arbelaez confirmed: “Our commitment is very much to look at doing so in Scotland.”

He said BP would also consider having turbines manufactured in the UK but had not selected the relevant technology yet.

However, they may not make any decisions for some time. The result of the ScotWind auction is expected to be announced in the first quarter of next year.